Senior News Line: Doing the right thing

How many of us are continuing to do things we feel we should, even if we don’t want to?

A neighbor bemoaned the fact that her husband had signed them up for yet another line dancing class at the senior center.

“And I don’t want to go,” she said. “I’m tired of learning new dances. I’d like to just enjoy the ones I already know.”

Like many of the people at the senior center, my neighbor and her husband were generally signed up for one or more classes being offered.

And to the staff’s credit, there is a wide variety of classes to choose from on a rotating basis.

We have tech classes, language classes, seated yoga, drawing and painting, “Cooking for One,” “Writing Your Memoir” and another new line dance class.

We’ve been through several and now there’s apparently one called “Cowboy Hustle.” And my neighbor didn’t want to learn it.

Curiosity got the better of me, and one recent day at the senior center I asked the group waiting for a class what they keep doing just because it’s the right thing to do. There was a variety of replies:

• Attempting to walk thousands of steps per day.

• Walking the neighbor’s dog so she doesn’t have to give it up.

• Counting calories.

• Sewing clothes for the grandchildren.

• Eating vegetables every day.

• Taking the mother-in-law out to lunch every Friday.

I saw my “no more line dancing” neighbor again. Maybe he just wants to keep both of you active and healthy, I suggested, and maybe he enjoys doing things with you.

She smiled and nodded, acknowledging that her husband was actually a good guy. And I knew that she’d be there learning the “Cowboy Hustle” alongside her good-guy husband.

How about you? What do you keep doing just because it’s the right thing to do?