Gym Return, Trainer Two-Timing, Boring Baby

Fitness centers have finally re-opened for business in Seattle and despite my trepidation, I went back to my beloved neighborhood gym last week to test the waters. On the “good” side of the tally: It’s both extremely clean and extremely devoid of people, so I practically have the place to myself. I was worried about the social distancing but because hardly anyone is there, that’s not an issue. I can hog all of the machines for as long as I want and no one gives me the stink-eye. On the other hand, damn. I’ve been very diligent about the home workouts, but they are not the gym and I learned the hard way that one cannot simply plunge back into, say, the lat pull-down machine at the full weight at which one had been doing before a five-month reprieve. I ache in places that I didn’t know existed, (hello, underarm muscles) and this morning my back is angry at me despite my intent to ease back in and not go crazy right out of the gate. It’s disheartening to have lost progress, but I am trying to focus on the good things I gained by doing the home workouts, such as more well-rounded quad strength, and more dexterity from doing reverse lunges and such.

One thing I did try to do that was probably a little foolish was to lift the unweighted 45-pound bar. I chickened out on lifting it after I had barely gotten it out of the rack, and that cemented it for me: I need a trainer to take to me to next step of dead-lifting. Just before the gym closed, I had sat down with my trainer to re-tool my goals, and that was going to be our next step. Then COVID hit, and that was the end of that. My trainer informed me last week that he will not be returning to the gym, (sob!), so to my great wistfulness, I will be discontinuing our remote sessions so I can pick up gym sessions with Big-Arms Stacy, who I worked with briefly while my trainer was on paternity leave, and who I found delightful. As I was handing over my debit card this morning for the training package, none other than Big-Arms Stacy herself came through the doors, so we were able to schedule a session for this week. I’m excited to start working with her, but I have not fully closed out with my trainer yet, as I still have an online session scheduled with him tomorrow night. So I am effectively trainer two-timing at the moment. And I would appreciate your discretion while I get it all sorted out.

When I last posted about the goings-on in Stardew Valley, I was patiently waiting for Harvey to ask me to have a baby, and sure enough, he finally did. After a brief gestational period of fourteen game days, a tiny pixilated baby appeared in the nursery crib. We named her Lily. She was very boring in the beginning. All she did was sleep. Now that she’s a toddler, she’s still not very interesting. She just crawls around randomly and occasionally plays with a toy ball that I did not give her, so God knows where she found it. I don’t mean to be sexist, but it’s obvious that the game was created by a young man who did not at any time think through practical issues such as house child-proofing, feeding, diapering, and day care. Harvey works long hours at the clinic and those crops don’t harvest themselves, so the kid knocks around the house completely unattended all day. Oftentimes I don’t even know what room she is in and I worry that she’s pulled a lamp over onto herself. Hopefully little Lily has an independent streak, because that child will be fending for herself. Good. It will make her a tough farmer some day.

As I was looking for farming songs for this week’s video, I came across this, and I really liked it as a tribute to our nation’s oft-forgotten farmers. It’s cute and silly, but it’s also a good reminder of where our food comes from and the hard-working people who make sure it gets to our tables. Enjoy!

--Kristen McHenry