The high school boys wander around the gym in pajama pants and tank tops collecting in small groups where they play peacock with each other.
In between sets they get lost on their phones, clueless they are part of a bigger world that contains other people.
Some of them remove their shirts and flex their muscles in the mirror and then look surprised when they see the cranky old man of the gym catch their eyes.
The same guy interrupts their social media moments in between sets and rolls his eyes while they set up tripods to film themselves.
That grumpy man wanders through with a purpose and has no time for the childish games. He is generally friendly but has no problem growling at others.
The growling is more pronounced while he waits for information about the health of others.
No More Time To Waste
That grumpy old man hears the tick tock of the clock against the clangety-clank of the weights being picked up and dropped.
That grumpy guy doesn’t want to waste any more time on things and people that don’t serve him so he is quick to take action.
He is seeing more success in some areas than he has seen in decades and feels momentum building.
It is hard to be patient and to be quiet when you can sense opportunity begging you to grab it by the hand and pull it in close.
Hard to be silent when you want to speak your mind and lay it all out upon the table in a “this is who I am now” kind of moment.
Cuz there are moments where you look back upon the choices you made and see how going right instead of left would have changed things.
Though you can’t guarantee that change of direction would have yielded the results you think they would have it is hard to believe it wouldn’t have been superior.
Ultimately you can’t go back but if some opportunities present themselves again you can thank for the universe for giving you a shot and go for it.
Or you can shrug and let it pass you by again like the dish on the lazy susan that just didn’t entice you.
But that is not how the Grumpy Old Man works, too much has happened and now he is hyper aware of such moments and not afraid to reach.
That reach and that willingness to listen to instinct is why his position is much improved.
Hard work goes a long way but it is not everything. Luck, even that which you make plays a role and the grumpy man thinks he is about to get lucky.
