Resolutions And Other Lies
There’s a specific time of year when I don’t need a calendar to know what day it is. All I have to do is pull into the YMCA parking lot and take a look around. Almost every space is filled. Just a week earlier, I could have parked anywhere I wanted, diagonal, sideways, maybe even backing in a space if I was feeling frisky. Now I’m circling like a buzzard over roadkill, hoping someone finishes their workout before I finish my patience. Once inside, the evidence becomes overwhelming. The locker room is full of people I’ve never seen before. Not just one or two strangers, an entire convention of them. I had to wait in line for a shower, which at the YMCA feels unnatural. The steam room was packed, the whirlpool was overflowing with humanity, and, this one really stung, someone had taken my favorite locker. I don’t know how to explain this to non-YMCA people, but lockers are territorial. You don’t just take another man’s locker. That’s how turf wars start....