Redmond freaked Rachell Ortiz out at first.  In their first weeks in town, she and her husband were looking for non-dairy ice cream at the grocery store and a complete stranger offered to show them where it was.  Terrified, they put their heads together for a hushed conference.  “What do you think he wants?”

Turns out, he just wanted to show them where the ice cream was.  Moving back here from Houston, with a population of around 4 million in the city and another 4 million in the surrounding areas, settling Redmond required a big shift in thinking.  Comparatively, Rachell beams, Redmond is “super super slow paced, comfortable, inviting.”  She has felt welcomed from the beginning.  “Everybody is so sweet.”  And, the urban transplant adds, “A traffic jam here is like 5 cars, which is pretty awesome.”

In between renovating her house and walking her bulldogs every day, Rachell was also looking for an activity she and her aunt could do together, as a way to get her aunt – who has limited mobility – out of the house.  Rachell also had her own motivation.  A year ago, she set a goal to go skydiving; a goal she would have to lose 155 pounds to achieve.

She found the Aqua Aerobics classes at Cascade Swim Center and set a date to meet her aunt to work out together.  Her aunt never showed.  Rachell set another date.  Her aunt stood her up again.  But by then, Rachell was hooked.  “I love the water, I always have.  My mom used to say I was a water baby.  If I’m near water, I’m in water,” she says.  “It’s an escape here.  You get in the water and it’s fun and you don’t even realize you’re exercising so much until you look at your pedometer or your clothes are falling off.”

Rachell has started a competition with her husband, who lives in St. Louis for work.  He gets in his steps on the stairs in his office building and takes yoga.  Rachell takes circuit training and water yoga classes with Kat; Addie’s strength class, which alternates between an arms and legs workout in the shallow end and an abs and legs workout in the deep end.  With Robin, Rachell has taken Aqua Zumba®, and is thinking of starting Aqua Gold, a low-impact workout for those with limited mobility in the hour after her regular classes.  “I feel empowered, she says of her classes.  “Strong as a boulder.  Confident.  On top of the world.  Nothing could bring me down.”  Rachell’s clear favorite is aqua kickboxing, part of a class called AquaCombat starting in the next session.  “I could kick somebody right in the forehead,” she grins. 

Competing against each other to get their steps in not only keeps Rachell and her husband healthy, but also connects them at the Fitbits while they have to live apart.  A year later, she is still renovating her house.  She is still walking her dogs.  She still wants to go skydiving.  She and her husband are planning to go ziplining in Peru.  And she has lost 100 pounds.

“You get flexible after awhile,” she laughs, “after it stops hurting! You find muscles you didn’t know you had,” she says.  I was pushing on my waist and asking my doctor, what is this that I feel here, hard on each side?  And my doctor was like “yeah, those are your abs, your obliques, and I was like shut up! I’ve heard of those!”  In addition to the joy of finding new muscles and building an inner strength and confidence that extends into other areas of her life (she is thinking of starting a family business), Rachell revels in the sense of camaraderie and community she finds among her fellow Aqua Aerobics regulars.

“I think it’s a lot of fun.  You get to know a lot of great people.  You don’t know everybody’s names but when someone doesn’t show for a few days, we start asking about that person, ‘have you seen so-and-so? How are they?’”  Rachell has been able to quickly build ties of friendship in her new city that has drifted outside of the pool.  “Some of us, we’ve had coffee, or maybe go for breakfast afterwards.  One of the ladies saw how much weight I’d lost so fast and gave me two Glad bags full of clothes.”  It is not just the practical benefits of friendship that keeps her coming back.  “I feel very invited.  I feel like I’m part of something pretty awesome.”  For some, that’s a feeling worth traveling in from out of town for.  “I’ve talked to a lot of people who actually come to this pool because the people are nicer and the equipment is provided and they just prefer these classes.”

Key to Rachell’s experience has been the lack of judgment about her body or her ability.  Going around in a swimsuit in front of strangers can make a person feel very vulnerable, but Rachell says the classes make her feel tough and accepted.  “There’s no judgment, everyone helps each other.  If you’re not a great swimmer, the teachers make things really easy for you.  They have the belts, the weights, the noodles, and everybody is really conscientious of limitations.  They will say ‘If you have limited mobility, try it this way,’ or ‘don’t push yourself too far,’ and they offer adaptations.” 

Despite the big change from a Texas urban environment to the more relaxed pace in Redmond, and even being able to see her husband only every couple months because of his job, Rachell seems to have found a feeling of home at Cascade Swim Center.  And a deep physical and emotional strength.  “Everybody in there…none of us are swimsuit models.  None of us are Esther Williams [the 1940s competitive swimmer and star of Hollywood “aquamusicals”].  We are not sleek and sexy.  We’re not out there to be sleek and sexy.  We’re there to go all out.  We are there to kick a--.”