It'll be a busy "day off" today, but that's no problem. I rather like having a full schedule, it keeps me out of trouble and away from daydreaming. In an hour, I'll be in the parking lot at the YMCA waiting for the doors to be unlocked. We have a regular early morning crew - Jack, our "Fearless Leader"; Rosemary, my fellow swimmer and good friend for many years now; myself; and sometimes Sherry. On Wednesdays we are joined by the "Three Amigos" fellow swimmers who've been swimming together for years. They're excellent at pushing each other, helping time each other, and working on strokes. They're also much better swimmers than I am, and they can do butterfly, a stroke I've never gotten the hang of. Sometimes we're also joined by a couple of other early birds, but usually it's at least the first three, Jack, Rosemary and myself.
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We call the three guys who swim in Lane 3, the "Three Amigos". It's not always all three of them - one of them travels a lot for his job - but when possible, it's all three. We remember the "Three Amigos" movie from 1986 with the nickname. Those three were Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. |
Ed is our "Gate Gargoyle", and Beth is our lifeguard. Ed is very kind, allowing us to wait indoors in the ante-chamber , a small room between the exterior door and the door leading to the main check-in room. When it's cold outside, we're very grateful for that kindness. It's not so cold now, but we know the rules and he's OK with our waiting inside. When he turns on the full interior lights at 5:00 am, we're allowed to open the final door and get checked in for our workouts.
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Ed is our gate gargoyle - we must pass the gargoyle and show our appropriate identification before being allowed into the castle (or in this case, the YMCA). LOL He's a great guy and knows and greets us by name. |
Beth is in charge of the lifeguards and is also a teacher. She enjoys lifeguarding, however, and has done it for years - maybe decades. When I first started swimming years ago, we had Rachel for our lifeguard. She was a delight as well. She knew all of us by name and if the pool was closed for any reason, she had the regulars on her phone and would call us to let us know. Beth doesn't go quite that far, but she's great. She also knows us by name, and she always has music playing for the water exercise people. She'll come over and chat before we're in the water, but understands that when we're in the water, we're focused on our workouts.
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Without a lifeguard, there's no swimming. We have some great lifeguards, but Beth is wonderful. She turns music on for the water aerobics people, and knows all of the regulars by name. She wears a beautiful opal pendant that she designed and had made for her, and is a teacher when the schools are actually in session. |
So it's a good crew I get first thing in the morning. I feel very fortunate in the people I meet in the wee hours of the morning. Nobody's abrasive or overly loud. We all know each other and exchange small talk when we feel like talking. If someone regular doesn't show up and hasn't warned us they're out of town, we worry a bit. We're there for each other, if not in each other's back pockets. It's a good feeling, and was wonderful to resume these friendships when I started swimming again late last year.
On that note, I'm off to the pool. I hope you have a great day. It's my "day off" which, of course, means that it's a very busy day for me. That's OK, I'll get to relax with a nice chat with Aearwen late this afternoon. Huzzah! Enjoy your day, be kind and I'll be back tomorrow.
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