Holiday Spirit

I'm not sure what gets into people this time of year but it usually goes one of many ways. First, there are the people who are so joyous and happy that you want puke all over their red and green Christmas tree sweater that has light up balls dangling from the branches or some who could easily replace the Grinch in the NYC Broadway musical. I am somewhere in between. Monday night certainly tested my holiday spirit...

Monday nights are great at the YMCA that I go to...no swimming lessons for the bambinos, no boys basketball in the gym, no karate classes. Basically not many kids which means not many adults either. This is a great night to swim and this is where I always am on Mondays. I had a great swim. A tempo session given to me by my coach. Long enough to make me feel like I actually burned a few calories and short enough (because I'm a speed demon now...ok, that's a lie) so that I can get home at a reasonable hour for dinner. The locker room is basically small but has 3 rows of lockers with benches in between each row and then another long bench in front of another set of lockers. Now, I'm somewhat shy when it comes to dressing in front of others in the locker room. I try to keep covered with my towel and make it a point to certainly not walk around nude even if I am alone. Anyway, I have my shit spread all over the bench like a yard sale and this woman about my age comes into my row and proceeds to open lockers to find an empty one. As I'm standing there with my towel wrapped around me wondering what the hell she's doing and wondering how the hell I'm going to dry my legs without everything hanging out with her standing there, she finds an empty locker, looks at me, looks at my stuff on the bench and says, "Can I have some room here?" Back it up, sista...Hold me back! Lots of attitude but what am I gonna say?? NO?? With the attitude that she posed her question, I gave my "you've got to be kidding" glare but somehow, someway, in the spirit of the season, I gently responded "Sure". Great. Now how the hell am I going to finish dressing without embarrassing myself? Am I really that shy? Yes, but that's not even the funny part. As I'm trying to find clever ways to avoid exposure, I occasionally glance her way thinking that I must be getting punked or something since I was alone and I see her struggling to get her bathing suit on (any minute about to hang herself with the sleeve of her shirt) with her clothes still on and wrapped up in a towel in that way when young girls try to put on their bras underneath their shirts. You've got to be kidding me. Lady, you could have easily avoided this trauma you seem to be going through by picking one of the other 2 rows. I don't get people most of the time and how their thought processes work. I'd love to have felt comfortable enough to ask her what she was thinking. Maybe next time. Anyway, I got offtrack a bit but my point is that it's attitudes like this that turn people.  I easily could have fled to the dark side. Lucky for her I didn't. 
With the exception of the financial strain on my wallet, I love this time of year.  The music, the giving, the sharing, the love.  I wish everyone was as fortunate as I am...maybe that explains bad attitudes this time of year or perhaps all year round for some.  My goal is to try to remember that not everyone is happy, for whatever reason, during the holidays and maybe I should try to spread a little of my cheer.