My Gym Pet Peeves

I Love the Gym. I don't love thinking about going, actually getting up out of my chair,getting dressed and driving to the gym, but once I'm there I LOVE my gym.

I feel like I am at a spa. My girls happily dance off to the child care area where there are games, movies, music and a constantly updated array of coloring pages. More often than not I am greeted with an "AWWWW, ALREADY?" when I return. I know they are safe and having fun which makes my time away from them all the more sweet.

I casually retreat to the locker room where I retrieve my IPOD with 10 songs by people I don't know. The songs were chosen for the speed of the tempo. Just enough to keep my feet moving at a good clip on the elliptical trainer. Often I grab my Amazon Kindle. Easily my most favorite thing that is not a person. Oprah agrees with me.
http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20081024_tows_kindle

I stash my bag in the cherry wood locker, lock with the key provided and head upstairs to the co-ed cardio room. This brings me to

Pet Peeve #1. New Year's Resolutions. My gym has elliptical trainers, stair steppers, treadmills and bikes galore. Usually I have my choice of 10-20 machines. Of course I have my favorites and head towards them. I have a routine. I like my routine. I am borderline Obsessive Compulsive. January really messes with my order...Where did all these people come from? Why are you in MY gym? Get off of MY machine! The co-ed cardio room is packed in January. I am sure I am no stranger to this irritation but I feel I must vent. So I wait my turn as the smell of fresh-baked cookies wafts up from the cafe...what kind of cruelty is it to bake cookies at the gym cafe?

I love my gym locker room. It is my favorite part of going to the gym. I get to shower in a private shower, as long as I want...no one is yelling at me through the glass that she is hungry or needs her bottom wiped. No one is whining about the unfairness of having to deal with an older(younger)sister for 10 minutes alone. No dogs licking the outside of the shower door....you get the drift. Then I get to blow dry my hair, put make-up on and get dressed-ALONE! Heaven.

Enter

Pet Peeve #2 Locker Room Nudity. Not mine, other women's. I just don't get it. Sure, walking from the shower to locker tightly wrapped in a towel or 2 is fine. Milliseconds of nudity required to drop towel and put on undies, okay. But really? Hair drying, makeup applying, walking back and forth greeting people and having drawn out conversations while completely buck naked? Sometimes I couldn't tell you if my own mother was in that locker room I spend so much time with my eyes directed to the floor.

Naturally Pet Peeve #2 has a direct relationship to Pet Peeve #1 and if I am patient and good I will have my quiet,lovely day spa back soon.