9-5s

sometimes i get dragged down by the monotony of my jobs.  i have both of them in order to break up the idea of 40-some-odd hours in.one.location. (ew)  but even still... both jobs are basically repeating the same phrases/speeches/&/or tasks over & over & over again.  & over & over.  & quite honestly i get bored.  i know, that's what you get when you skip the whole college thing & don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining.  i appreciate my jobs very much.  any presence, no matter how small, of mental sanity, is enough to be very grateful to have both of my jobs.  but i'm just saying.  sometimes i'm sitting in my office.  or folding yet another stack of clothing & i'm just a million miles away, wondering what i'm doing exactly. 

& another element to this post that needs to be said before i make my point... i think i may have touched on it before.  but it's funny how people assume things about a person based on what they're paid to do.  let me make it clear that just because i work at banana republic & a fitness club does not mean that i am a stylist & fit.  please do not ask me to pick out outfits for your daughter or the photoshoot your doing.  it makes me incredibly nervous.  & thank you for thinking that i'm a gym rat because i work here.  unfortunately looks are quite deceiving.   i break like every rule in the book that we promote in our type of facility, trust me.  if you want someone to tell you how hard it is to get your butt out of bed & sweat your socks off, then i am definitely your girl.  i mean i'll cheer you on, but i'll also be the one standing in heels & not sweating.  & when you leave i'm going to drink mt. dew & cupcakes in my office.

but then you have days where stephanie steps into your office.  she is special to me. i gave her an orientation when i was still on the floor.  she was wearing head to toe pink & she had wild crazy curls.  classic case of mom wanting to get back in shape.  she is the mother of twin boys, age 2.   two little heart breakers with personalities to die for.  they are wild little monkeys.  runners.  escape artists.  & they run in opposite directions.  the stuff of heart attacks for sure.  but their favorite phrase is "be right back." because they know that their mama will "be right back" to get them when she is done doing her mommy workout. & they repeat it to each other over & over again. to watch the love between these 3 is really just precious.  & she steps into my office the other day to ask me if she can use our scale in the PT office.  i tell her that of course she can.  so she comes back in the office with a big victorious grin & says: "anna i've lost 17 lbs!"  & you can just see how good she feels because she's glowing.  to see someone work as hard as she has, and to watch her energy change, is truly inspiring.

so is ray.  he comes in multiple times a week.  a senior citizen.  and he walks on the treadmills & uses the recumbant bikes with his oxygen tank thing on his back.   & he always has a big smile on his face.  his dedication makes my heart soar. 

john makes me smile too.  we trade advice from our therapists across my desk.  we have heart-to-hearts.  we trade books.  his willingness to make himself so vulnerable to the world as he struggles thru the drama of life makes me want to try harder. 

or like yesterday my crazy boss was chattering away to me as i was filing on his office floor.  telling me about very specific live oak trees i need to hug because it will re-energize me & cool state parks in the local area where i need to have picnic lunches with zane.  and he'll excitably report things like: "i haven't watched tv in 4 weeks!"  (he thinks it's really cool that z&i don't have a tv).  & that: "pop music definitely lowers your IQ."  i just had to be silent on that one.  my IQ level must be somewhere near the core of the earth by now if thats the case.  we talked about the granny that came in the other day with a portable cassette player, and our first cassettes we ever purchased.  & how much i wanted to just squeeze her for rocking that cassette player. 

tom the owner & i laughed with crazy eddie, the maintenance man.  him + a chainsaw + hedges + A.D.D. = hiiilarious.  & scariness.  he's a sweetheart, but eccentric. 

so i guess what i'm saying is... the moments that get me down are trumped by the moments that remind me that life is beautiful.  odd, definitely. chaotic, sometimes. funny, most of the time.  crazy indeed. but beautiful all the same.