Grin and Bear It

I bit the bullet on Wednesday and joined the gym in my building. I spent all four years of college with a set routine, adapted to fit my class schedule each semester but always keeping a consistent regimen. Even going home for the summer I made the effort.

Then I moved to New York.

Living with MK in Murray Hill, we would make a half-hearted effort every once in awhile to take the elevator to the fifth floor and screw around on the elliptical machines while watching “She’s the Man”. Yeah- not our finest hour.

After the other girls had started working I still did some exercising, but the seriousness was never there. When we moved, things did not change much either. I think part of me has always made the excuse that we walk everywhere, so as to justify the lack of further physical activity. That all ended today.

Today I entered a new gym, dusted off my running shoes and got back on the horse, so to speak. I’m convinced that going back for the first time was the hardest thing to do, even if I’m sadly already feeling the ache of it.

We finally got AV back tonight- she has been waking up early and staying late at work this week because of meetings going on with her company. It’s a good thing, too, because if she would not have been here tonight, she would not have been able to see my dramatic reenactment of my morning.

Suffice it to say, no sooner had I removed my coat this morning that I became painfully aware of the fact that I was wearing the same shirt as a male superior in my office. And no, it wasn’t just some green sweater or blue polo, it was a purple gingham button-down. Just in case you were wondering- there is nothing more obvious in all of fashion than PURPLE GINGHAM.

KR made a remark about us having similar shirts once, and suggested how hilarious it would be if we matched, but what were the chances that we would wear them the same day? “Slim to none” I thought, as I grabbed it from my closet this morning. Thank goodness I had the sense in the my early morning brain to buffer it with a long-sleeved khaki sweater, or else it would have looked like we tried to coordinate some sort of Twin Day on our floor. When KR arrived at work a few minutes after me this morning, I bee-lined to her desk and asked: “what would make today perfect for you?” Her little Sherlock mind saw what I was wearing and figured it out in a split-second. She loved every awkward minute of it.

My co-worker and I acknowledged each other’s keen fashion sense and I made the executive decision that MY shirt will now be relegated to nights and weekends.

"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward."
-Vernon Law