random thoughts – Day 1,350 – (Monday) – determined

Seven years ago, I had moved into The BungaLowell and was still getting settled. The living room furniture was sparse, consisting of an armchair and ottoman from a resale store, a round mid-century table from a yard sale, and a buffet from Mom with the TV on it. I had spent Black Friday and the following days searching for a sofa without luck. One store specialized in massive furniture for massive homes that would never fit in my small living room. In another store, I did everything but jump and down waving money and yelling to be helped. The store wasn’t even crowded, but after being ignored by several alleged sales people, I left.

Futon assembly, November 27, 2016.

On Sunday of that weekend, seven years ago today, I went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore to see what I could see. It was there I found a futon in a light-colored wood that seemed it would work. If there were guests, the futon would open to a bed. Once the temporary storage room was sorted out the futon would go upstairs and the search for a sofa would resume. 

The futon needed assembly, which worked out well, because I was able to load it into the car and then into the house by myself, piece by piece. A video found online showed the assembly process. It wasn’t my first time assembling furniture. I had experience with assembling storage cubes, bookcases, a TV console, a bathroom rack, and two tall bookcase wall units with doors on my own, and figured a futon would be just another project. It took some determination, elbow grease, effort, and swears, but the futon was assembled. And all these years later, the “guest” room is still a storage room and the futon is still in the living room.

Today, there was a lesser level of determination than that needed to assemble the futon single-handedly. It was focused on going to the gym. After work, while removing the big pot of turkey, vegetable, rice soup from the refrigerator, I remembered the plan to go to the gym and put it back inside.

It was a quick stomp upstairs to change into sweats and sneakers, during which there was a pep-talk about the benefits of the treadmill and the massage chair. Around 5:20, I pulled into the plaza containing the gym, the auto parts store, a nail salon, and Family Dollar. The sections of the parking lot bordering the front and side of the gym were packed. I joined the three or four vehicles circling the parking lot like vultures.

Turkey soup.

After a loop through the two sections and finding no open spots, I kept going to the other end of the strip to Family Dollar. Tissues and hand soap and possibly some other things were needed at home. The items were purchased and the parking lot at the end of the gym was surveyed again. It was still full, and a full parking lot usually equates to a full gym. An unfortunate number of treadmills had “Out of Service” signs on them Saturday morning, and waiting around in a busy gym wasn’t a scenario I felt like dealing with. I wasn't that determined to be at the gym and drove home for the soup supper that was delayed a half hour earlier.  

Tomorrow I will summon the determination to attend the gym again.