SOL30...Going to the Gym

Going to the Gym

    This was it. It was time to go. I knew when I woke up this morning I needed to go. As I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, I counted off the days in my head. I went Monday, but I didn't go the rest of the week. One...two...three days. Yikes. No wonder it was so hard to convince myself to go. I dragged myself out of bed and hung my feet over the side of the bed. Do I have even a clean sports bra to wear? Pants? It would be easy enough to talk myself out of it if that were the case, but sadly, it was not.

     After forcing myself the rest of the way up, I quickly found all the necessary clothes. I pinched my lips together. It shouldn't have been so easy, so quick. On the positive side though, once the clothes were on, I would be more convinced to go. After dressing, I made my way into the kitchen. Charlie wasn't out of bed yet, the lazy bum, but he needed to eat breakfast and go out before I could go anywhere. I grabbed his bowl, measured the dry food and wet food together and sat for several seconds mixing them.

     What was I going to do today anyway? Treadmill? Elliptical? Bike? I liked the stairs, and I didn't do that one on Monday, maybe that's what I would do today. Once his food was mixed thoroughly enough, I made my way back to the bedroom to wake him up. It was Friday, so he should have been whining and trying to drag me out of bed at five A.M. like usual, but he must have caught on that I didn't have work today because I hadn't heard a peep out of him. As I walked in the bedroom, I caught sight of his head, nothing else. When I'd woke up this morning, I'd thrown the blankets off me and right on top of him. He hadn't bothered to move. 

     I walked around the bed to get a closer look. One ear was poking out, and one eye. Everything else was hidden under the blanket.

"Charlie," I called out softly, "Time to get up, sleepy head."

Nothing. No movement at all. I looked down at my wrist, checking the time. It was already after eight. What on Earth was he still doing in bed?

"Charlie, come on lazy bum. I've got your breakfast ready." I leaned down and pulled the blanket off his head. His eyes slowly opened, but not much else. I leaned down close to his face, "Hi, handsome. You ready to get up?" He was still mostly obscured by the blanket, but I could see the blanket moving, so he was getting closer.

"Are you ready to eat?" I asked again. This time he rolled over and started to sit up. His process of getting up on a day off sometimes looked like mine. Several minutes of confusion, followed by stretching and whining. I watched as he shook off the blankets and leaned down on his front two paws, stretching his back. His tail was wagging back and forth, so despite looking tired and having to be dragged out of bed, he was excited.

"Are you a good boy?" I asked. His tail wagged faster. He jumped up so his two front paws were now resting on my stomach. I ran my hand along his back and scratched behind his ears, leaning down to give him a kiss on the head.

"Alright, let's go. I'm supposed to be convincing myself to go to the gym today, but you're making bed seem much more enticing." He wasn't listening to the last part. By the time I finished "Let's go" he was already out of bed and heading to the kitchen. I followed behind, hoping to see him already eating. Sometimes, he was a champ and ate it within minutes. Other days, like today when we aren't on schedule, he takes longer. Sometimes refusing altogether. Luckily, this morning was not one of those days.

     While I watched him continue to eat his food, I grabbed a banana off the counter and started eating myself. I thought about the day ahead. I had a lot of cleaning to do, that was for sure. Laundry. Dishes. Vaccuming. The works...I'm glad I was forcing myself to go to the gym because it wouldn't give me the chance to be lazy. That was good. Charlie had an appointment for a bath and haircut at noon, but other than that, I didn't even really need to go out today. That was nice too.

     As I was throwing my banana peel in the garbage, I noticed Charlie beginning to slow down as well. Perfect. I could give him his shot and then head out to the gym right away. Get it done and over with already so I couldn't talk myself out of it. My first day off for break was in full motion already, I had to just get up and go with it...