always open

OK, so 24 Hour Fitness isn't open continuously; it does close up shop for a bit on major holidays. But other than that, the place is always brightly lit and open.

I arrive at the gym just before 5 a.m. this morning, and the place was dark. This not being a holiday, I was a bit confused by this. Then I saw someone leaving the building and watch someone else go in. Hmm.

Not wanting to have gotten up at the butt crack of dawn for nothing, I decided to see what was up. Inside, there was no one sitting at the front desk. A few people were scattered through the darkened gym working out. It was weird. In the dark, employeeless gym, it felt almost as if the gym members had broken into the place.

I looked to the glass windows that separate the gym from the pool. It looked pretty dark back there. And it was. The light from the sauna room was on though, so it cast a little light down the lanes of the pool. But the far end of the pool was pretty much dark as night.

I loved it. There was something calm and peaceful about it. All I was lacking was a night sky filled with stars.

My grandparents' pool was my second home during the summers. (And I mean that literally. I had this game where I'd hold my breath underwater while playing house and having a tea party with a friend.)

But the best time of day to swim was in the evening. I'd float on my back and watch the stars come out. I miss that.