Worlds Apart: They're the People that You Meet Each Day

I’ve been going to the same gym for about a year. To commemorate the occasion, I offer some observations about the people I see when I am there.

For two days in a row, there has been a guy in workout clothes smoking outside the gym. Sometimes, I will go to Chick-fil-A after working out. I rationalize that I’ve burned off the calories in my waffle fries, so it’s all good. But I have to wonder, does working out negate the effects of cigarettes?

Snaps to the girl wearing pearls in Zumba tonight. (Zumba=one hour of Latin, hip-hop, cardio mayhem.)

There’s this awkward trainer who doesn’t have a lot of clients, so he wanders around a lot (earning him the nickname “the Lurker” from my friend Beth). Tonight said trainer sniffed a girl. It wasn’t a “You smell nice, what is that?” sniff either. It was more like, “Hi, I’m a collie. What a fine looking poodle you are.”

My absolute favorite trainer, henceforth to be known as Cute Trainer, is a highlight for me. He’s just adorable. He makes everything look fun—even riding a spin bike, which is, like, the opposite of fun. Sometimes he brings his clients into Zumba to dance with us for a song. He always tries to dance along with us, freely, joyfully making mistakes. It totally distracts me. I always try to be extra Fergalicious when he comes in, only to wind up tripping over my feet.

There are other notable characters who don’t need their own paragraphs, but who bring delight to me regularly. There’s the pastor of a local mega-church who works out twice a day, and a guy who is so flexible he can stand on one leg with his other leg at a 180 degree angle, propped on a machine, all while working his arms. There’s a man whose love for the ab machine is so intense I’m afraid one of them is going to snap in half, and a small man who doesn’t look like much, but when you use a machine after him, you realize he’s been lifting 150 pounds with his legs.

What flavor do I bring to the gym? I think I would probably be known as weird t-shirt girl. I enjoy buying strange t-shirts at Goodwill. Here is a current favorite, nice and wrinkly because I got it out of the hamper for the photo op!