Hoop Dreams

At thirty-nine years of age, I bought myself a hula hoop.

I have a good friend, Shellie, who is a Hooper (and fifteen years my junior). When she first told me she had taken up hula hooping, I thought it rather peculiar. Since I am an old fuddy-duddy, I had no idea that “hooping” was the latest fitness/dance craze. I remembered hula hoops from childhood and thought them rather boring. Oh, how things have changed.

Shellie recently let me borrow her hoop for a few days. I immediately felt energized and sassy as the colorful striped circle surrounded me. Emma, of course, has her own hula hoop and can spin circles around her old mother. As she and I practiced together, I often was told, “Watch this, Mama!” as the little peanut would perform some crazy-ass trick like spinning it on her thighs or around her neck. I, on the other hand, was shimmying, spinning, huffing and puffing to just keep the sucker from crashing to the ground.

After a few practice sessions and a healthy dose of friendly cajoling from Miss Shellie, I decided to pony up the $20 and purchase my own custom-made hoop from Hoola Monsters, the local group of Fonzie-cool Hoopsters. I figured that any activity that helps me to move my body (especially my ever-so-slowly expanding mid-section) in a joyful way is a good thing.

Last night I practiced with my very own red, purple and black hoop to the rhythmic, tribal sounds of Rodrigo y Gabriela. Lo and behold, I actually kept the thing spinning around my middle for 90% of the time! While it didn’t look like I was doing very much, I ended up a sweaty (yet sexy) mess at the end of the CD. That was all it took; I was hooked on the hoop.

This morning, I decided to do a little research and found that hooping ain’t for sissies. These chicks play with hoops ON FIRE, for goodness sake! They dance, twirl, whirl, and otherwise move like total bad-asses, all while keeping that hoop a-spinnin’. Needless to say, I was mightily impressed. I SO want to be one of those hoop girls. (Check out one of these righteous hoop chicks on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SORJd-KX5xU&NR=1)

I find myself starting yet another activity that I currently suck at. (I hate that!) Maybe with a butt-load of practice and through the Grace of God, I’ll someday be able to perform a few of those amazing tricks that Shellie and the other Girls of the Hoop World can gracefully yet powerfully perform. For now, this fuddy-duddy is going to cue up Brent Lewis’ DrumSex CD, step inside her new hoop, and start pumping away.