It's Fun to Stay at the Y-M-C-A

We are officially members of the YMCA. Hubby's insurance from work pays for our membership at a gym if we commit to going a certain amount per month, so we are taking advantage of it, now that we don't have a baby in the house. (I think the idea is that if you work out at a gym you'll be healthier. I can see problems with this [sprained ankles, tennis elbow etc.] but apparently they can't.) Hubs goes during work already, so we just added the family and now I have to go 8 times a month too. That doesn't sound like much, until you divide it out into twice a week. Then it seems a bit tougher, because the W'ville YMCA is about 15 miles from here.

The kids are loving it so far, because they have an indoor swimming pool and a few racquetball courts where the kids can just bounce themselves and the racquet balls off the walls. A bonus would be the great echoing effect; you can only imagine this with two (loud) toddlers. There's also a huge gym with aerobic equipment (OK, some stand alone punching bags and those little step thingies) and tumbling mats (They stink like a thousand sweaty wrestlers) and lots of empty space for running around like goobers with no one else in there to make them stop. (There's an official basketball/skating court elsewhere.)

Mommy is loving it, because my saintly mother-in-law has agreed to watch my children once a week so that I can go all by myself. Let me re-emphasize that, in case you didn't catch it. ALL. BY. MYSELF. Can you imagine the possibilities? I can swim, or work in the aerobics room on treadmills or stair-steppers or bicycles. I can lift my way around the nautilus room. I can walk the track at whatever speed I feel like going. The world is my oyster. I can even meet my husband at lunch and play racquetball with him. (He's very good, and I'm just starting. Not generally good for a relationship, but we haven't hit each other with the raquets yet)(OK, not on purpose).

Anyway, today is my day, so I'm looking forward to my new-found powers of choice. I might, in a moment of hedonism, even go to the local thrift store and try on some jeans.

Today I'm going to swim; when I get cold, I'll sit in a hot tub. It's been years since I've sat in a hot tub. No, it's not necessary for mankind to sit in a hot tub, but you have to understand how I work. Swimming makes me cold. Really cold. I have sat on an inner tube in mucky turbid waters in 100+ degree temperatures and still crawled out of that river with purple fingers and toes and blue lips. I used to look like a hypothermia victim every time I swam as a child and still do if someone makes me stay in too long. The thought of being able to sit in warm water after I swim is so very comforting. I plan to enjoy it. It's only too bad I can't take a book in there with me.