Julia Roberts

I love Julia. My adoration dates back to "Mystic Pizza," a bad movie from the 80's when dear Julia still had an ass and not much of a career.

To me, she was the personification of limitless beauty.

Probably my favorite of Ms. Roberts' movies is "My Best Friend's Wedding." It reminds me of a very happy time in my life, when my best friend was falling in love and preparing for his own wedding. Which, for the record, I did not try to sabotage.

Anyhoo, my point is ... she has this line in the movie that sticks in my brain. She's trying to point out how she's different, not the same girl she once was, and she says:

"I've got moves you've never seen."

And so I was thinking tonight, in the middle of hip-hop class at the gym (yes, and stop laughing now, I am taking hip-hop and I love it) "I've got moves I'VE never seen!"

I'll never dance like the teeny-boppers in class, with their lithe little bodies that do exactly what they tell them to do. No, alas ... I have parts that don't even stop on their own. But I'm having a ball, and tonight I actually felt like I was dancing! And with each pound that exits this body, the dancing becomes easier. The new me continues to emerge.

I spent a lot of today feeling kinda crappy - dowdy, unattractive and a little bit pathetic. But after an hour of dancing, having a dear friend tell me he could tell I was losing weight (did you find the blog, John?) and a long soak in the hot tub, I came to the realization that the gym was exactly where I belonged tonight.

It's good to belong. And to have moves!