Engaging My, Um, Core

When Martha Stewart was in the Big House, news leaked out that she was leading her fellow inmates in daily sessions of yoga. Hilarity ensued, and one of the funniest things I read was some writer imagining Martha yelling, "Engage your core, Big Marge!"

In my typical beat-a-dead-horse fashion, I've been randomly pronouncing the very same thing for the past few months. To my brother who was about to leave for a big work conference: "Engage your core, Mickey!" To my father falling asleep on my couch: "Hey, engage your core!" Out my car window to a woman walking her dog: "Engage your core!"

I was cracking myself—if no one else—up. I believe my brother's response was, "Oh, shaddup."

But then my end-of-summer doldrums set in, and "engage your core" suddenly started to sound not so much funny as...good advice. And not necessarily when applied to a workout (and, okay, yoga's not a workout it's a way of life blah-to-the-blah-to-the-blahblahblah). Chatting two weeks ago with my CousAunt, who also has three young daughters, I leaned back into the couch and murmured, "I need to engage my core." And she said, "I hear you."

I'm only thankful that she didn't say, "I'm feeling you," instead because then I would have fallen to the floor laughing and immediately embarked on a few months of randomly spouting that gem before getting back to the whole, you know, core thing.

So anyways, now you know how I'll be spending my Fall.