While Rachel and Kevin were suffering through school, dreading their ortho appointment this afternoon, Char and I went in search of a gym. The dojang pool has been drained and the weight equipment sold off, so we need a place to work out (home pool isn't adequate for her needs; not enough walking space before the deep end starts, and it's cheaper to join a gym rather than keep the heat as high as she would need it all winter.) I haven't been a gym member for 15 years, and the last time I was a member of one it was wall to wall steroidal meatheads and aerobics bunnies dressed like cheap whores.

We found a couple of those, but I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of gyms out there now. Most of them I would have been comfortable working out in, but Char nixed several because the womens' locker rooms were dirty (gross times ten) or because the pools were too cold or in disrepair. We wound up at what used to be the quintessential muscle head place, Gold's Gym; it's now family friendly, classes the kids can take if they want, Alex can work out with the weights, any kind of weight system I can think of, the locker rooms were spotless, and the pool met Char's standards.

We picked he kids up a little early for their appointments (Alex tagged along beause I didn't want to have to go back to get him; Char can drive but she doesn't want to drive alone just yet.) It looks like Kevin will be in braces longer than Rachel, but that didn't make her feel any better. She's taking all this very personally, and I'm a bastard because I don't seem to have much sympathy.

I likely do not have as much sympathy as I could, but it's not as if she was going to have to wander aroun in headgear for the next year. Half the kids she knows have braces; she'll fit in just fine.