Dec 27 2008
Exercising with a young person
I was exercising at Curves today. We’re a bunch of older women whose bodies look it. We’d like to look and feel better. That’s the point of exercise, isn’t it?
Today there was a 17-year-old exchange student from Russia exercising with us. She is everything we wish we were. But she isn’t everything she wants to be. She wants to be strong. To us it was amazing. Here is this delightful young woman who totally looked like an American teen and she thinks she needs to improve her body?
Actually, wanting to be strong is a good goal. She recognizes in herself the need to be stronger and she’s doing something about it. That’s a good thing for the rest of her life. She seems to embrace adventure. She needs to be strong so she can do that. Eventually she will get married and have children. She needs to be strong to do that. And eventually she will be older like us, and being strong is an excellent thing to take with us into our over fifty years.
I was really impressed with this young woman. She spoke English well. She had read a number of American and English classics and knew the authors and could discuss the books. She mentioned a book by Jane Austen called “On being Jane.” It’s autobiographical and had been made into a movie in England. I would like to see that movie, based on her description.
We were very taken with her. I’m sure her parents, her friends, her sponsors are too. I hope she goes home with a good feeling for the United States.
Marilynne
