YMCA

On good weeks, I hit the local YMCA about 3 times. I'm part of the mid day crowd. The lady manning the front desk now knows my name.

For me the Y is one of the few opportunities I have to interact with people. And by interacting I mean standing in close proximity sweating and saying absolutely nothing. I'm smiley with the few women and avoid eye contact at all costs with the men.

The following are some small events. None of them related but all interesting to me for some reason.

1. On Monday as I was gathering my things two heavy women in their 40s came into the weight room in street clothes and aged teeth. Woman A was telling Woman B that John had lost his job and they only had two more weeks of pay. Woman B nodded in a way that she knew all too well the reality of what her friend was saying. I headed toward the car once again really thankful for my own job...at present safe.

2. On the trip home I gave in to cravings and stopped by the Dairy Mart. Since abandoning caffeine (I MISS YOU!) my stops here are less frequent. I didn't recognize the clerks. I hope the ones I know's jobs are OK. As I was paying the woman behind the counter commented on my shirt. It's my Going to See the Elephant shirt and I mentioned that while it's from a play, many people think it's from the zoo. She said her children had just been to the zoo. I said that the last time I'd been to the zoo was in school too. She replied that it wasn't through school but through their foster Mom. She continued to tell me that two of her three children were in foster care but that she saw them regularly. I think the foster care kids even got to go to Disneyland. This made me realize that I know little to nothing about the foster care system. I also have preconceived notions about how people feel about foster care and was surprised at the ease in which she told me this very private information. Maybe it means I have a trusting face. I'd like to think so. Maybe she just needed someone to share a happy experience her children had had. Either way, it made me uncomfortable, but I'm glad I got to hear her story.

This got long. I'll post the rest later.