Each and every day I rise , shake out the cobwebs in my eyes and am so very thankful for the life that I have arisen to! So damn blessed to be at peace with most everything in my world and so happy as to where I'm at. I have personally been granted ,or blessed with some intelligence, wherewith all and coping skills to get through the daily push of everyday. This being said i always seem to learn something new and exciting everytime the sun comes up, which is no way of saying I'm a dumbass on rainy day, figure of speech is all! I get up, go to work then the gym afterwork and the gym on weekends. At the gym i am diligent about getting in and getting out and putting in my 45 minutes to an hour on the machines and then bolt out the door onto living the aforementioned life I spoke of earlier.
At the gym there are a couple of older guys who work out at Bally's and have always been very nice and very friendly. I met Johnny 2 years ago via Ruben the stutterer who always wanted to be a gangster but couldn't, now he just talks about the good old days that never were, but he introduced me to who he calls "The Godfather", all in his Gangster mantra, so i bought into it for conversations sake. Johnny is an old school badass who at 63 years old still works out and has the physique of a 38 year old man in shape. He is a very business oriented man who is recently retired and stays busy buying storage lots at auctions and re-sells it all at a profit. A very nice man who rarely talks about his past unless you ask him. He does impart some good information and some knowledge that isn't always common in our conversations at the gym. He shares allot of good stories of the old days and how he made so many mistakes and see's his younger family making worse mistakes than he made and doesn't know when it will end. He is a wealth of street knowledge and common sense and i do enjoy his company and conversation. but i know he will add 20 minutes to my workout and that's ok at times. I like Johnny, don't even know his last name but i like the man.
There is another man who is both similar and very dissimilar than Johnny who also works out at the Gym. He is 77 year old Sheldon, an gray haired, barrel chested strong man who is always the happiest and most friendly guy at the gym. says hello to everybody and like Johnny is fit beyond his years and always glad to see the next guy, even if I'm that next guy. Sheldon calls me billboard because he say's they can advertise on my wide back and always has some very nice things to say to me. His full of life demeanor and his vast knowledge of life and living are a culmination of 77 years of living a good life and treating his friends and family as if they really matter. He is a well educated man who taught at UC Davis and many high schools in the land, he has a wisdom about him from a historical sense and has always had the answer to my questions, he unlike Johnny is very articulate and very keen about social injustices and the worlds affairs. A good conversation is always at hand and I do enjoy the wisdom that both Johnny and Sheldon bring everytime we speak.
I do enjoy living and learning new things and different perspectives , the vast majority of people at the gym are real simple people and not all that interesting, but the few guys that take time out to talk to me some of which i have not listed make the at times difficult trek to the gym a bit more enjoyable and helps break the monotony of doing the same routine and the same machines and people in the areas of the gym that i frequent the most. All said, the growth that ensues is for me is almost a necessity , the fact that I've always stressed living and learning and growing emotionally, spiritually and even in a worldly sense to not become stagnant and realizing that there is so much knowledge and wisdom outside of our doors and we should embrace the changes are are waiting to improve us on a minute by minute basis. To stop growing as people is to start dying as a person, like a relationship that gets too comfortable is very apt to become stale and grow apart, these things happen to us individually and at times even a depressed state of forgetting how to grow ,or desiring change in our lives which for me will never occur if i have anything to say about it all!
It is a Monday and originally i didn't want to come to work, even showed up late, wanted to stay in bed with my wife since she's done with teaching til next fall. But I am here at work and able to feel better about the day and know that the gym will make me feel better after work and that the night with my wife will even make it all better. A very nice sunny day here in southern Cal today and can't wait to enjoy a healthy lunch somewhere and get away for an hour. The day is really good so far and i cannot wait til day's end
No comments:
Post a Comment