Relaxation Segment: I Believe in You!

I Believe in You  by Dan Zadra

An elderly man, in the final days of his life, is lying in bed alone.  He awakens to see a large group of people clustered around his bed.  Their faces are loving, but sad.   Confused, the old man smiles weakly and whispers, "You must be my childhood friends come to say good-bye.  I am so grateful."
Moving closer, the tallest figure gently grasps the old man's hand and replies, "Yes, we are your best and oldest friends, but long ago you abandoned us.  For we are the unfulfilled promises of your youth.  We are the unrealized hopes, dreams and plans that you once felt deeply in your heart, but never pursued.  We are the unique talents that you never refined, the special gifts that you never discovered.  Old friend, we have not come to comfort you, but to die with you."

Each of us has something that we can do better than anyone else on Earth!

I played the song  I Believe in You by Il Divo (I downloaded it from itunes for $.99)

Here are the words to this song:

Lonely, the path you have chosen
A restless road, no turning back
One day you'll find your light again
Don't you know?  Don't let go, be strong

Follow your heart
Let your love lead you through the darkness
Back to a place you once knew
I believe, I believe, I believe in you

Follow your dreams
Be yourself an angel of kindness
There's nothing that you cannot do
I believe, I believe, I believe in you

Rut Blocker

Starting Position:  Seated with the band behind your back and under the arms.  Hold the band (Holding the handles will probably not give you enough resistance, so cue for participants to grasp along the tube- not wrapping it around the wrist or hand.)
Holding on to the tube, pull yourself up to standing.  You can repeat this chair squat as many times as you wish.  Squats make a wonderful transition from sitting to standing or standing to sitting!

Cue for participants to:   Punch up to the front-Up
Punch out about shoulder height- Out
Cross tubes to the front about shoulder height - Cross
Repeat with other arm on top- Cross
Punch 2 to the R
Punch 2 to the L
Repeat

When they get comfortable with this, add two steps to the R when they punch to the R and two steps to the L when they punch to the L.  This is a great coordination segment!

Everyday Miracles

I was out fishing yesterday with my husband, Jimmy, and some friends on our SeaRay.  We were out on the James River and the tide was running really fast, so we anchored the boat.  We had been out for hours and had an ice chest full of fish.
I had just taken a fish off of my line.  I usually have a paper towel in my poket, but for some reason, I didn't have one and my hands were slimmy.  I went to cast the line out and the pole slipped from my hands.  I ended up throwing my pole in the river! 
I felt so dumb as I watched the pole sink.  I couldn't believe I had just thrown a $200+ fishing pole and reel in the river!! Now, I know why I always have a paper towel in my pocket!!    I immediately knew I would never hear the end of this!
My husband was not happy and he let me know it!   I wasn't happy, either!
After a few minutes, everyone got back to fishing.  I got another pole and carefully threw my line in.  A little later, Jimmy threw his line in and said, "Your line's hooked onto mine."
"It's not my line," I replied.  The others that were fishing said that he didn't have their lines either.
"Hey," I yelled, "Maybe it's my fishing pole!"
We all got excited as we began pulling in the line.  As we pulled it in, we realized that the line had a fish on it!  We kept pulling in line until up came my pole!!  We couldn't believe it!!
The tide was moving fast and the only thing that kept the pole from being carried away was the fish!  It was swimming around which allowed Jimmy's line to snag it.  Unbelievable!
I knew this would be a story I would never hear the end of - I just didn't know the end of the story, yet!

Just for Fun

Here's a joke for your class:

Proof That Men Have Better Friends...

Friendship among Women:
A woman didn't come home one night.  The next morning she told her husband that she had slept over at a friend's house.  The man called his wife's 10 best friends.  None of them knew anything about it.

Friendship among Men:
A man didn't come home one night.  The next morning he told his wife that he had slept over at a friend's house.  The woman called her husband's 10 best friends.  Eight confirmed that he had slept over, and two said he was still there.