Halloween Gymnastics 2018

It was fun to see all the children decked out as their favorite characters (scary or otherwise). But -- wow! -- was Halloween ever an endurance test this year!

We have hundreds upon hundreds of trick-or-treaters in our beach community. They come in wave after wave. My task was to greet and treat each and every one arriving at our door, while keeping our family's two retrievers and one cat from bolting out into the madcap darkness.

Me & energetic grandson Brooks

To accomplish this, I peered out the window adjacent to the door and, upon the seeing the colorful goblins coming up the walkway, grabbed the candy bowl, and gently nudged each dog aside with one foot while opening the door and managing to slide out without falling down. I then sat down and dispensed the candy to the kids (practically all of whom said "thank you"!). After two hours of this, I felt like I had done 400 squats with leg balancing moves in the wonderful senior workout class I take at the Core Fitness Club. I call it "Sarah's Challenge," after our great teacher, Sarah Parker.

You know what? -- by coincidence, Sarah had led us through such balance training this morning, hours before the Halloween endurance test. We did all sorts of moves off the Swiss ball and with weights while lifting one foot off the ground, to the best of our ability. These are not the easiest exercises for me, given orthopedic and inner-ear conditions that make me something of a Weeble. You know, "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down."

At least we hope they don't. That was the underlying importance of this class -- to help prevent falls, which are atop the list of devastating accidents for those of us in our golden years. So at the end of the day, I feel very tired, but also blessed to have the benefit of this kind of fitness training as I approach my 77th birthday on Veterans Day.

Here's hoping all who participated in Halloween 2018, young and old alike, had a lot of fun and stayed safe.

                                                 © Robert Gray Holland  (2018)