All Thumbs...

"We always fear what we don't understand."

There is a reason, that for four years at Kennedy Club Fitness, I almost exclusively exercised in the pool. First, I don't like to be bathed in sweat. Second, I like being in the water and swimming laps. And third, and perhaps most importantly, I don't really understand gym equipment.

But, being as I'm in a new place, I decided to branch out on Saturday night. Big mistake...

I hit the fitness center at my new apartment complex. It was deserted, which gave me the confidence to try out all the machines. It wasn't my finest hour. Between the travel/life commitments that have kept me from the gym over the past few weeks and the adjustment to the altitude, I wasn't breaking any fitness records. Then the predictable happened.

While trying to adjust the weights on a machine I didn't really understand, I dropped the hammer on my left thumb. Not really a hammer so much as a free weight. I saw it coming and tried to move, but I couldn't escape a straight on blow to my left thumb nail. Good thing I'm not left handed... oh, wait, I am...

Anyhow, knowing I'd messed up big time I dashed home. When I came through the door and yelled, "Babe, I need you," I think Lindsay knew that my time at the gym had been less than successful. One week here and I already earned a trip to the Urgent Care. (That, in itself, was a chore as we basically took an interesting cross town route.)

After x-rays, it was determined I didn't break my thumb, just my spirit to work out for a couple weeks. And, after the doctor numbed my thumb, she punched a hole in the nail to drain the blood. A mere 16 hours later and I'm feeling much better, though you never realize how much you use your thumb until it's not available to you.

So, I feel like I learned an important lesson through all this. God doesn't want me to work out in the gym. What a relief. Wait, what's that you say, that's not the lesson to be learned here. Oh well, I guess I have some time to reflect on it before heading back into the breach (in this case my new fitness center).