The Rings.

The temptress and the source of my undoing. And I vowed that I would champion the Rings by summer’s end.  But I had practiced only once in more than three weeks.  I was sure to fail miserably.  And I was almost out of time.

And then it happened today.

I did all eight rings.

When I grabbed the eighth, I swung there for a little, enjoying the moment.

SIDEBAR:  On Facebook, IFOB welcomed me into the Pan genus (chimpanzees).  One might be offended at first.  But, hey, no issues about hair, clothes or weight, no professional pressures, and they apparently have sex all the time.  There are worst things than to be a little Pan-like.

I was so sad that my trainer Wendy couldn’t be there.  No video. No witnesses.  Nothing.  I texted her immediately after my moment of glory.

Then I saw an email from another of Wendy’s trainees:

From: GymFOB
Date: September 21, 2013, 9:54:15 AM EDT
To: Blogger
Subject: [Blogger], is that you by the exercise rings?

We just drove by.  Sent from my iPhone

I did not read the content, just the subject line.  OMG, where are you, GymFOB?

I looked really hard (without my glasses) at those doing Tai-Chi near the Rings.  Then I looked at the women who were playing beach volleyball, even though I didn’t think GymFOB would be there.   Worse yet, I was trying to recognize GymFOB’s body type, so I was looking at women for more than a brief second.  One of the women was staring back at me.  Oy.  I inadvertently started “something”.  You know, that eye contact “thing” that can be meaningful only if both people have 20-20 vision.  I did not.

OH, SHIT.  No victory lap for me.  I ran to get my chalked encrusted glasses and my other stuff and started to jog from the Rings, looking for GymFOB.

I sent an email:

Response:

On Sep 21, 2013, at 10:10 AM, [GymFOB] wrote:

West Side Highway.  We just drove by on way to NJ!

Sent from my iPhone

 New York is a small town.  And I am the Lady of the Rings and a member of the Pan genus. And today, September 21, is the official end of summer.

Score.