I go to my gym four or five times a week, it is a part of my open heart surgery recovery, still underway and perhaps a permanent part of my life now. I rarely went to a gym, and hated it when I did go. I don’t hate my gym, it has the sense of peace and intimacy that is such an important part of the town where I live.

Life and open heart surgery is like that, you reject something for sixty years and then it becomes something you love. When you stop changing, you are already dead, the body just hasn’t caught up.

This week, I bring some true tales of the gym, it is a place I love, gyms reflect and mirror us, they can show us where we are in life, how other see us.

* I went to the gym this afternoon, I was alone there. Three strong men, weight lifters from the look of them came in, they ignored Red and came up to me together. It is unusual for people in the gym to speak to one another during a workout, I was surprised, I was reading and riding the exercise bike.

“Sir,” said the tallest, “would you mind if I turned the music up?”

“Not at all,” I said, “I have my earbuds if I need them, it is good to work out to music.”

Thanks, all three said in unison, and the one who spoke to me said I should let them know if it got too loud or bothered me or interfered with my exercising.

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Tuesday  I came to the gym with Red in the early evening, I turned the lights on and changed into my gym shoes, street shoes are strictly forbidden, that is probably the only ironclad rule of the gym. Three very strong and large women were lifting weights, grunting and shouting and supporting one another.

One saw Red, called the work to a stop, and all three of these women put their weights down and came over and sat in a circle around Red. He loves women, he was delighted, he went from one to the other, it was a circle of love and affection, they hugged and touched Red for 10 or 15 minutes, then they all got up and went back to their weights. They all thanked me for bringing him.

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You know when you are getting older by the way other people see you and treat you, very often you can’t really see it for yourself.

I am not great at tying my gym shoes, once in awhile my chest scars still hurt and it’s awkward to bend over. When I bungle it, the laces flop on the treadmill. Once I’m into the treadmill, I hate stopping it, getting off, tying my shoes and getting back on, I don’t know why, I just resist doing that.

Once, my laces were loose, I was trying to ride it out, get through my 45 minute workout, when a figure appeared next to the treadmlll, it was a woman from one of the exercise bikes, she leaned over and tied my shoelace, I was astonished. “We don’t want you to fall,” she said, and then went back to her bike.

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A mother came in with her two young children, she had no sitter for them, no husband at home. They were driving her to distraction, jumping on the machines, running up and down and shouting. The women was exhausted, and harried. I asked her I could hire the girls to babysit Red, she looked surprised but agreeable. I offered the girls a quarter each if one would sit on one side of him, the other on the other side and watch him to make sure that he rested and behaved.

They were very excited, I said whispering was fine but running or shouting would disturb him. They each leaned over to kiss and pet him and then took their job very seriously, whispering earnestly and comparing notes. Red eyed them dubiously, but he put his head down and went to sleep. They were more or less still for at least 15 minutes. The mother, who was running hard and fast on one of the treadmills, thanked me and Red, she said we had saved her sanity.

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One night, I was on the exercise bike when a man came in moving very slowly and carefully. I recognized the movements right away. He was unsteady, sweating and it looked as if every move was costing him. He seemed unsure of himself, he was looking over at the teenagers pounding away at the treadmills.

At one point he looked directly at me. “Heart surgery?,” I asked, and he nodded, he looked embarrassed, his shirt was buttoned up to the neck. He said he didn’t feel as if he belonged here. I told him I had open heart surgery, he seemed relieved to hear that, I said he would be more comfortable soon, the pain would mostly go away, he would be doing things he couldn’t do even a few months ago.

He nodded and said he was grateful for the information and encouragement, he thanked me. I did not see him again, I asked the manager of the gym about him, he said he paid one month’s dues and never came back.