I unlock the door downstairs with the given code, and bound up the stairs to my newly found Pilates studio in New Haven, Ct. Sarah is calling my name as she taps on the pane of glass that separates us. She is the owner of the Sarah Aldrich Pilates Studio.

“I bought your book,” she says.

“That’s great, thank you. May I autograph it?”

“It’s on my bedstand at home. I’ll bring it in. I love reading about your early days in Brooklyn.”

My smile widens, I like Sarah. I tell her that she will really enjoy, although enjoy would be the wrong word, the later chapters. They are difficult but affecting. Life changing, really.

The first time I meet Sarah, we enter into a substantive conversation about aging parents, illness, and being present to tough circumstances that surround us. Not the usual first time conversation one has with a stranger. I tell her about The Moon To Play With, A Daughter’s Journey…because the conversation parallels the book too closely to simulate coincidence.

I had been looking for a Pilates studio in New Haven for over a year. I tried as many classes and privates as I could locate, each with an open mind and an eager desire for it to be the one. Sadly, none measured up to the class I was used to attending on Long Island.

Then a fitness person told me about this place, and in it, I found my niche. A noon mat class with an instructor who has a quirky personality, a substantial knowledge base and the ability to target deep muscles that works for me. She works us hard. I don’t get injured. She’s funny and cute and capable.

I miss the reformer aspect of Pilates, however. Sarah is re-creating class types and schedules that work for the instructors and clientele, so I’m hopeful a reformer class will appear in my near future. At eleven a.m. Or twelve noon. On Tuesday.

With a busy schedule, and new and exciting happenings in the works, having a place to workout that is comfortable, satisfying and convenient – feels like a blessing. And blessings are experiences I’m particularly open to having.