motd Wednesday August 24, 2011

[Guest guest]

MEMORIES OF

MY TRAVELS

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

I'm

sitting here today thinking and...what about? Well, I'm

thinking that I'm the luckiest little aerobics man in

America. What brought this realization on are the

memories from my trips this past weekend to Toronto,

Canada and Columbus, Ohio.

I

told you last week that I was on my way to Toronto where

I'd be making an appearance for Canfitpro. At their

convention, teachers, club managers and fitness industry

experts attended from all over Canada. They came to

learn about new fitness classes and workout equipment

they could use in their clubs.

Well, let me first tell you that I was just about the

oldest person there. LOL. Most of the people attending

the convention, I'd say, were between 18-35 years-old.

But there were some people attending who'd been teaching

for as long as me. (Thanks goodness.) I wore my

colorful fringe outfit and took thousands of pictures

with some of the nicest people I'd met in a long time.

There were several thousand people exercising with me

and oh, I'm telling you, the convention was just filled

with energy. After class, I signed autographs and

chatted with lots of people before heading for the

airport and my next stop. I was on to Columbus to

attend Channel 10's big Health & Fitness Expo. And

I have to tell you, it was packed, too! There wasn't an

empty spot in front of the stage when I appeared in my

red feather and crystal ensemble. (Oh, I looked

fabulous, everyone just loved my outfit.)

There

were lots of people in the audience I knew and I hadn't

seen some of them in a very long time. It was really

nice to see so many familiar faces.

One of the favorite parts of my day was meeting this 97

year-old and very sweet woman. She was standing

at the edge of the stage. Her daughter had brought her

to see me and when she had the chance, told me that her

mother wanted to kiss me. Hey, I was ready!

I got down on the floor of the stage, scooted over to

her mom and planted a big smooch right on her. Her

mother's name was Ann Marie and said she just loved me.

Well, I told her that I loved her right back and...I

meant it! I asked what her secret was for living such a

long and healthy life. She told me it was from eating

all of the right foods and her daughter was now making

sure that she kept right on eating in a healthy way.

(Oh, what a good daughter. And smart, too!) I was so

proud watching this nearly century-young mother

lifting her arms and gently swaying to the music during

our class. Talk about inspiring!

There were many people attending who had a great deal of

weight to lose. Plus, there were lots of people who'd already

lost a lot of weight. I was so glad to have

them there so they could show everyone else what we

all can do! For my cool-down number, I brought

all of the weight-loss success stories on stage with

me. One-by-one, I had each of them announce to the

crowd how much weight they'd lost. As they did, each of

them received an approving thunderous roar of approval.

I was so proud of them all!

As usual, after class, I signed lots of autographs and

hugged and kissed as many people as I could for another

couple of hours. Then I headed for the airport and my

flight home to Los Angeles.

I had

about an hour-and-a-half at the airport before my

flight. So I spent some more time talking to people who

came up to talk to me as I was waiting for my flight

home. And like I started out telling you in this

message, I was just thinking. I was thinking how

rewarding it is to be a people person. Thank

You, Leonard and Shirley for instilling in me how very

special and important every single person on this earth

is!

Love,