On Monday the fam had a great walk to Hiller's and back to pick up supplies for a delicious stir-fry dinner. The weather was warm. We were all in good spirits. Sure, I could have been at the gym, sweating and breathing a little harder, but I would have been by myself.
Then on Tuesday, I saw a friend in Ann Arbor whom I've not seen in months. I thought I might pop in for an hour or two then get back home in time to watch Biggest Loser while on the treadmill at the gym. Turns out that when you haven't seen someone in months, you have plenty to talk about. When you're lucky to have a good friend who cares about the developments in your life and you about theirs, you don't book out after an hour and say, "Man, I gotta get my lazy bones to the gym." It's so true that I run around and I want to pay down debt for a future and I want to be healthy for my future and I want to do house improvements for our future, but some times, just being lucky enough to have the present that is today is a pretty damn powerful thing.
I thought for sure Wednesday would finally be my day to really hit the gym after being occupied Monday and Tuesday. Again, it didn't happen. And I rolled with it. I have a friend who's been studying very hard to pass a licensing exam for her job. She finally passed on the third try. I had always promised her that I would celebrate that accomplishment with her. She came to my house. We ate pizza. We drank wine. We caught up on life since it had been a long time since we had one-on-one time to chat. I stayed up way too late. I drink too much during the week. I ate a crappy dinner. But you know what? I had a great time that was totally spontaneous.
Now, we're at the point where you are thinking that surely this girl who is obsessed with working out finally got to the gym on Thursday night. The funny thing is that I didn't. I had actually made plans in advance to see another friend. It was awesome to just wander around on a gorgeous day, to stroll through a downtown with an iced latte, to catch up on her life and she on mine, to talk about vacation plans for the summer and who will watch who's dog when. It was deeply satisfying.
I'll admit I did walk Quixote some of those nights and even one morning before work. I wasn't a total sloth. However, I wasn't in the running to replace Jillian Michaels in her career either. And you know what? That's OK with me. I don't want my exercise plans to run off the rails every week like they did this week but I also want to be flexible enough to seize good opportunities with true friends when they crop up. Life is an amazing, beautiful, wondrous place. I don't want to ever leave.
