Lily put cat ears on Damian.
Oddly enough, they really suit him.
05 July 2007

If someone had come up to me and said, “Gym showers are one of the happiest places you can find,” I would have thought, “What a bizarre and quite probably untrue statement.  Gym showers?  I imagine they smell like feet.”

And yet, it is true!  They don’t smell like feet; they smell lovely!  They smell like soap, fragrant shampoo, clean bodies, and happy people!  Two days ago, while I was showering after my workout, a young woman was just singing away in her shower stall.  And even though she had just a normal singing voice, her song and her general happiness lit up the whole shower area.

Why so much happiness in such an unlikely space?  I think it’s because gym showers are full of people who have just finished their workouts.  I’m told that the happiness you are feeling after a workout is caused by endorphins, but whatever it is, it makes gym showers a very happy place.

By the way, the ladies’ locker room at Lifetime Fitness, in general, smells very nice.  Matt said that the mens’ locker room does smell like feet, but in the ladies’ locker room, all the women put on such nice-smelling perfumes or body splashes or (as in my case) powder after they get out of the shower.  I don’t know if this statement is true across other gyms, but it’s true for my gym.

I’m going to make a potpourri sachet for my gym bag to keep it from smelling like sweat, and asked Matt if he would like one for his gym bag, and he said “Only if it smells manly.”  And I asked, “Do you mean like patchouli?  No lavender or rose?”  And he answered, “Yes.”  And that, my friends, is why the ladies’ locker room smells so much nicer than the mens’ locker room.

Matt and the children with his two brothers, Ben and Sam,
and his grandparents
Lincoln, England
20 July 2007

For the past month, my little family and I have not been settled.  For two or three weeks before we left for England, we worked really hard cleaning the house and clearing all the baby clutter out.  We also fixed up Lily’s room (it looks soooo pretty now; I just go in there and sit on the bed because it’s such a cute little girl’s room filled with toys and cute pink lamps and plushies).  While we were working so hard, we quit going to the gym (Lily also had ringworm and was not allowed in the child center until the ringworm was gone) and we ate out so we could stay focused on the work.

Then we went to England for ten days.  We had an amazing time.  Matt was rejuvenated by his visit to the homeland and seeing his brothers who he hadn’t seen in two years.  Lots of chocolate and fish and chips, no gym.

We returned with a feverish desire to get back into our normal routine.  But we were thwarted by severe jetlag and impending family visits.  More eating out, no gym.

By Thursday of last week, my stomach could not take another greasy meal.  I was feeling really ill.  So, for the first time in a month, we made a meal at home.  Matt cooked bangers and mash with broccoli and green beans.  Never have vegetables tasted so good.  And we’ve been eating meals at home since then, but still with lots of cookies and chocolate.

So here it is, Monday morning.  The fresh start of a fresh week.  We’ve already reserved a spot in the infant area of the child center at the gym for Damian.  We’re ready!  I’m ready!

I’m ready to feel better.  I’m feeling really run down from all that terrible food.  But on the upside, the house is clean and we had an amazing visit with both Matt’s family in England and my family before my mom left back for Kentucky.  But I am definitely ready to get back into a familiar daily family routine.