Royal Canadian Air Force exercises in college kept me sane as well as strong. The Elaine Powers Figure Salon got me back in shape after a youthful flirtation with bad eating. YWCA and health club memberships have peppered my past, and I smile when I recall many happy years as an aerobics addict.
The idea seemed outlandish, however, to have a standing appointment at the gym before the sun comes up. It hearkened back to dragging out of bed in winter darkness to see kids out the door for the bus, or to my childhood, when I thought it curious to see my father doing arm curls in his bedroom before he left for the earliest operating room slot.
I take the leap, and decide to try the new schedule. Punching my alarm clock, I move through carpeted blackness and flick a shutter open to check for the morning papers. If I don’t read those first thing, they may not get read, but this is a
trade I’m willing to make. One cup of coffee for the road, and another when I get home; my routine may be upended, but the change feels good.
The gym does not buzz in the early morning. Light slants gray-ly through the eastern windows, increasing my sense of stolen time. We barely begin our routine before it seems we finish, a function of the hour, or perhaps a mind uncluttered by the detritus of the day.
Stepping out into crisp new air, I am alert and observant. I join the parade of cars on their way to who knows where. Traffic reports weave between news of what happened overnight. The day brightens as though an unseen finger slowly modulates the sun’s dimmer switch, and my mood rises with it.
Winter’s penetrating gloom, a formidable opponent to good intentions, may be tricked this time around. Before sunrise, with my mind in low gear, the power of the appointment will rule.
