people make me smile:: june 27

so i go to the gym this morning, walk into the workout room, and i see my gym-bff-gary working out on the weights. i figure that he is all done with his cardio workout. i also figure that he and i will catch up before he leaves. so i get on the bike, put on my radio, and start listening to sportscenter on the gym’s local radio broadcast.


gary gets all done and i see him walking my way on his way out. i pull out my headphones and say hi.
he says, “where have you been? i haven’t seen you in a while.”
i tell him how i’ve been coming in at 6am, and then carol, (the lady that asked him about his dizzy spells) who was on a treadmill behind us blurts out, “GARY! what to go out on a date sometime?!”


so there i am, spinning away on my bike, with an embarrassed gary next to me- and it was then that i knew that i had a new blog-story on my hands. so i listened closely, with a big smile on my face. i wanted to see how he would handle this.


gary replied, “carol, i’m fine. don’t worry about me. i’ll be ok.”
i said, “gary! alright! you’re getting asked out right here at the gym!”
then carol spoke up again saying, “gary! its not good to eat alone. no one wants to eat alone!”
he replied, “carol, i’m fine. but thank you.”


and then i started to wonder, “is this story going under the church-gym blogs or the seniors-are-like-middle-schoolers-blogs?” because i was witnessing an awkward rejection- something i have seen so many times at student ministry.


carol kept it up. gary kept making excuses for why he couldn’t date carol, and that he didn’t need companionship. and then he told me to have a good weekend and then he left.


if i did put this in the seniors-are-like-middle-schoolers-blogs, i would say that seniors are like middle schoolers because they are aggressive when it comes to getting the attention of the opposite sex, obvious when it comes to who they like, and not very good at letting someone down easy. they also seem to be happy to play out their romance (or lack of romance) i front of everyone).


if i put this in the church//gym section, i would say that eventually at church and at the gym, the happy faces are too hard to keep on, and real-life spills out. sometimes its awkward, sometimes its sad, but its always authentic, and always is interesting.


but i’m not going to file it under either of these- i’m starting a new section- called “people make me smile.” because true life is always more entertaining than fiction.


sorry carol.
if i’ve learned anything about middle school relationships, i would recommend that she go after his friend. that always seems to get a guy’s attention.
wait a minute!
that’s me!