My Cup Runneth Over

“I’ve not got lots of riches, and sometimes the road’s been tough
But I’ve got loved ones all around me, and that makes me rich enough.
Though I’ve never made a fortune, and it’s probably too late now.
But I don’t worry about that much, I’m happy anyhow.
As I go along life’s way, I’m reaping better than I sowed and
Thank God for his blessings and the mercies He’s bestowed.
I’m drinking from my saucer, ‘Cause my cup has overflowed.”

Today I stopped over at my parent’s house as they had a 74cm TV that they wanted to get rid of due to having bought a newer one for themselves. It is in perfect working condition and it has a nice big screen.  They were practically giving it away for just R200 and I knew someone who wanted it so we met up and she followed me to their house. We had made plans before to have the TV collected but unfortunately due to circumstances beyond her control she never made the arranged day and time. She was worried my parents would give the TV to someone else as she hadn’t been to collect it yet, even thought I had assured her they were keeping it aside for her. So today to say this lady was hugely excited would be an understatement! Watching her as it was loaded in the car, the disbelief in her eyes that this TV was now hers and it was going home with her tonight was just priceless. Every now and again she would clap her hands and make excited noises! Once the TV was loaded, we went back inside to fetch the manual and the remote for the TV and when she turned around she gave me the biggest hug and said in the most excited voice, “thank you, Lara” while squeezing me tight.   Leaving, she blew me kisses and said “I love you” in her excited voice, dancing around in her happy state. She was happy and it made me happy to see her happy, as it did my parents too.

Things have been pretty stressful for me lately, there is just so much going on getting ready for my trip and my climb up Kilimanjaro but watching this lady today get so excited about this new TV she was taking home was humbling.  There is so much beauty all around us, all we have to do it open our eyes to see it.

I am so hugely blessed with my life and everything that I have in it and I’m so blessed for all the little “gifts” that constantly fall around me for me to see.  How could I ever want for more when so many have so much less than I do. I am a millionaire in immeasurable ways. It puts everything into perspective and tonight as I falling asleep I will be sure to say extra gratitude prayers.

What are you grateful for today?

 

Behold the Power of Dance!

 

I must apologise to my blog followers for been so slack in keeping my blog updated lately! My main reason is that I am frantically working against a looming deadline coming up on Monday.  So while the rest of South Africa is enjoying a nice long-weekend due to Freedom Day and Workers Day holidays, I am working hard on my assignments.

I am also not hiking this weekend, much to my disappointment. Thomas and Paul who we do the training hikes with are both away, as is Donna and so I’m left on my own with no-one to hike with. I am missing it hugely.

But to make up for my lack of hiking on this long-weekend, where I could have fitted in numerous hikes, I have gotten back into Zumba, which is great cardio training for my hike up Kilimanjaro.  I have always loved Zumba, it is a sexy, endorphin-pumping workout ~ how could anybody not enjoy it?!

The first time I got to try Zumba was a few years ago when through the company I work for, myself and fellow colleagues did something called the CANSA “Relay For Life”. It was a relay over 12 hours that had you raising funds for cancer and walking around an athletic track for 12 hours with someone from your team never leaving the track during the relay time. It is done at night and you walk throughout the night. To keep us awake and entertained as we walked throughout the night, the main organisers would have various entertainment going on in and around the track. Three years ago, while walking on the track suddenly the music changed and this high-energy music started blaring around the field we were walking on and a crowd was forming and some girls on a stage with these beautifully sculptured bodies started doing some crazy moves to the music. It was the greatest introduction to Zumba! Of course we had to go and join in and while other team mates walked, I along with my friend who had joined us for the night in walking for cancer, headed up high on a hill behind others who were already cavorting their moves to this wild music that just made you want to move your body! I had no idea what I was doing, neither did my friend, we were doing it on a sandy, quite steep hill – probably looked totally ridiculous but it was the best fun I think we have ever had, laughing the whole way through. That night I became hooked on Zumba!

I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy it. This weekend was my first time back in a while and it took me a little while to master all the steps again – and several moments more to be able to do them at speed! At times I was going left when I should have gone right, twirling clockwise instead of counterclockwise, stepping instead of kicking. Nobody noticed or seemed to care when I made a balls up.  Everyone was basically following the steps, but they all added their own flourishes – a hip bump, a sway, a shoulder roll – so it was easy to think of my mistakes as merely style choices!  As you might expect it was a mixture of hilarity and fun and had me smiling through the entire sessions. The class flew by, and at the end everyone, including me, was drenched in sweat, laughing, and clapping as if, indeed, we had just been to an awesome dance party.

Zumba really is the ultimate workout and it is going to fit nicely into my fitness programme of getting overall fit and mountain ready for Kilimanjaro. My climb is just over two months away (insert slight panic here) and it is time to set it up a level.

If my Zumba antics didn’t get you smiling, this video surely will!  The video is by Ben Aaron and I came across it just as I getting ready to publish this post when it popped up on my Facebook newsfeed and after watching it I had to share it with you. This may just become the world’s newest fitness craze. I couldn’t help but smile watching it and I was dancing in my chair. Can you imagine how happy our world could be if everyone had to do this?

 

I wonder how this would work on a mountain. Dance hiking…. now there’s an idea!