I’ve been a member of the same gym for a few years now.  I find that this particular gym fits my needs: it’s open 24 hours, and, besides being very affordable, especially when I pre-pay for a year, it’s super convenient – I head out in the morning, take one short detour for my workout, then I get right back on the expressway and go my merry way on to work, freshly showered and full of energy.

A few weeks ago, my gym undertook a remodeling project – a big one.  The kind where they put up signs that say things like “Pardon Our Dust While We Improve YOUR Gym.”

By “a few weeks ago” I mean “around Thanksgiving.”

At first, it was no big deal – the cooler appeared against the wall behind the 30-minute weight circuit.  Then a tanning booth showed up nearby.

Decorations came down off the walls, and ceiling panels were even removed.

Then, two weeks before Christmas, there was a handwritten notice posted that said that the locker rooms would be closed until December 23.  Sure enough, the next day, there were two banks of freestanding lockers that had been moved out into the main gym area.  Fine for stashing my handbag, yes, but not so great for changing out of sweaty gym clothes!

Since it was what would amount to a 2-week inconvenience, I took to getting dressed at work, then showering at night after I got home.

On the bright side, my hairdresser said my hair was especially soft and healthy since I hadn’t used the blow dryer in a couple of weeks, so there’s that.

December 23, I showed up, gym bag over my shoulder, looking forward to a good workout and then a nice shower afterward – it was going to be GREAT!  Except it wasn’t.  The locker rooms were still closed, and I still went to work sweaty and changed in the ladies’ room.

“Well,” I told myself, “it’s a holiday week, so I can certainly deal with this for the two days I’m working this week, and we can start the new year off with a nice, fresh locker room and shiny new showers.”

Then it happened – one morning – AFTER the new year, I walked in and the attendant told me the locker rooms were open – and the showers worked!

And it’s great! New, modern lockers, fresh paint, brand new sinks and counters, tile floors, and beautiful ceramic-tiled showers.

But no shower curtains.  Not even curtain rods to hang any shower curtains.

It was like middle school.  Remember when the locker room had one big shower room for everyone?  The shower room that nobody, in my entire high school experience, EVER used?

Yeah, nope.

But here’s the thing.

It’s so NICE to shower right after a workout.  And I do prefer to wash and style my hair before work, rather than before bed.  Not that I style my hair before bed, of course.  I’m not weird.

And it IS the WOMEN’s locker room – what do I have that every single person in there doesn’t?  Nothing, that’s what.

So I said, “eh, whatever.  I want a shower.”  And it was nice.  Fast, yes, but nice to rinse off before getting dressed for the day.

But seriously, I was starting to feel like I was scaring people away!

So I asked the attendant on my way out yesterday who I had to know to get a shower curtain put up.  After all, the showers have been finished for a couple of weeks.  The trim has been painted and the ceiling panels are in.  And they’ve even put numbers on the lockers, which is important too.  I guess.

But no shower curtains.

The guy just shrugged at me and mumbled “I dunno.”

And that was that.

This morning, there were curtain rods in the showers, which gives me hope, anyway.

And if nothing else, it certainly motivates me to keep working out and eating right . . .

Categories: aging humor social weight

kristinebryant