Joy Dare 10 and reflections on Zumba

10. a gift that's sour, a gift that's sweet, a gift that's Just. Right.

• sour: walking into Ross and not exiting with something in my hand. I'm currently on a shopping fast. I've been thinking a lot about the way I manage and spend my money, and I decided that I like shopping a tad too much. This year: live simply. Live with what I already have (which is way too much!) and use the rest of it for Kingdom purposes: being a good steward, building a well in Africa, clearing off loans, saving up for a practical car, buying goats for a starving family, paying for young'uns when we go out to eat, etc. It was such a bittersweet struggle not to buy anything when I went to Ross (it's Ross!), but felt a great sense of accomplishment for sticking to it.

• sweet: getting out of my class two hours early. Thank you, Professor! (Sidenote: I have a professor named Mike Jackson. That made me smile too)

• Just. Right. Hearing about friends finding true love and embarking on marital journeys. I wasn't bitter, strangely enough, only so happy and wistful at the thought of such happy news. Love, love, love. (and patiently waiting for my turn, of course).

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Another resolution: getting fit. In honor of that, I joined a Zumba class at the local recreation center. This is what it looked like for an hour:

Me, surrounded by three dozen Chinese housewives (We call them "See-Lai" in Cantonese) who all seem like they've taken this class before, because they were on name-basis with the very cute, plump, pregnant instructor and her extremely-ecstatic-and-doubledreamhandslike husband and co-instructor.

I was much taken aback when I realized that most of the participants were my mom's age, but then I couldn't help but laugh and enjoy the freedom of not having a young, pretty peer to whom I would feel extremely ugly, fat, and inferior. Haha! My dad also got a kick out of it when he came to pick me up. Can't wait for the next class!