Barbara #2

It had been three weeks since Barbara had made the decision to talk to John. Three weeks ago, she had been lifting weights at the gym with her husband when it seemed like the weight of the world was crushing her more than the 150 pounds she was bench pressing. 

As they entered the gym today, John was in his ever present ex-baseball coach gear - from creased and aged baseball hat to white practice tennis shoes. Barbara decided to spice it up by selecting her black workout pants with a neon pink stripe to accompany her grey tank top. Her grey-streaked blonde hair was pulled back in her usual pearlized barrette. As she and John worked to complete their usual eXcITE workout, with John completing five reps of every machine in the gym, and she literally running after him from machine to machine, she thought about that conversation three weeks ago.

It seems like so much had happened since the end of March when her daughter had asked her to have to lunch.  Her daughter, Rachel, had always been independent. Rachel was in her early 30s. She had placed her career first and although she had dated, Rachel maintained that her career was her first priority. When Rachel had asked her to lunch Barbara figured that it must be related to something at work - perhaps the coveted promotion Rachel had been working on for the past year. Barbara could not have been more off-base.

After the appetizer, Rachel began weaving a story for Barbara. The more the story unfolded, the more Barbara felt as if she was having an out-of-body experience and viewing herself talking to Rachel from somewhere far away. Rachel started by telling her mother that she had always been unhappy with her career. Yes, she made a fantastic living in advertising but Rachel was just not happy doing the work. Then she went on to say she had been investigating wholistic living; she had used her vacation in March to travel to Arizona to stay at a wholistic leaning center. (Barbara had known she went on vacation to Arizona but the location of the trip had no been shared with her - now she knew why). Rachel went on to say she wanted to change her life.  As Barbara listened, Rachel detailed farming, canning, communal experiences and a tiny house that Rachel would build for herself. Barbara must confess - her first thought had been "CULT!" 

Barbara did give her daughter the benefit of the doubt though and researched the location Rachel mentioned. It did seem reputable. They did not require people to give up worldly possessions, or convert to some doctrine. A week after Rachel told her about her decision Barbara broke the news to John. Their highly successful, six-figure earning daughter wanted to go to Arizona to live on a wholistic farm. 

Thinking back, it was a lot to take-in. John had been in shock, and truth be told, still was in shock even today. It was only explanation for his behavior. Hopefully he would become more open to the idea since she was leaving in two days. This was not a reason to strain his relationship with Rachel. She would talk to him again tonight - see if she could make him understand it is about unconditional love.

Hopefully she can convince him to see Rachel off on her journey. She had just two days.

Barbara

Barbara had met John when she was 28. He had been the baseball coach/instructor at the community college where she taught English. Their first meeting had not been love at first sight, in fact, she had gone to politely tell him to get his facts straight. She had gone to speak with him about what he had been telling the students in his sports course about the need for literature in their lives (he had said it had little value, she felt it completed the person). The meeting had gone as you might expect - not well. 

Now when they look at back at that first confrontational meeting they just laugh - it is one of those love in adversity stories.

That meeting was almost 30 years ago. It took almost three years of on and off courtship before they married. Now, they could not be happier with their life that included three children and most recently, one grandchild - little Marie.

As they did most mornings, Barbara and John went to the gym for their workout.  Neither dressed to impress, John in what he used to wear while coaching baseball and Barbara in black pants, t-shirt with her greying blonde pulled back in a barrette. The two had recently switched up their workout routine after reading about a new technique online. It was called the EXciTe method developed by Anthony Ramirez (http://dayatthegym.blogspot.com/2015/03/antonio.html?m=1) and they found it fun and beneficial. It involved doing 5 reps of virtually every machine in the gym. Of course the developer had also included push-ups in between every other machine. Barbara and John did not elect to include that in their workouts - too much up and down Barbara though. Instead, they chose to play a variation of "follow-the-leader" through the machines. John would start with one machine, do five reps and go to another. Barbara would immediately start her five reps and run the machine where he was working. Her goal was always to finish her five reps and get to the machine where he was working before he could finish. He would often try and thwart her by selecting machines across the room. She would not be deterred, even if it meant leaving her machine at almost a full run to get to his before he finished. She had gotten quite proficient at quick reps!

After completing their 25 machines for the day (ranging from arms to shoulders to back and legs) they would meet up in free weights for their final push of five different quick lifts. 

Although Barbara was able to complete the follow-the-leader without having to concentrate, the lifting was difficult. Something had been weighing on her mind for a few days. She would need to tell John what she and their daughter had discussed over the weekend. Maybe this evening over dinner the time will be right. Until then... Only one more lift to go!