How many locker rooms are in this place?

Another floor to replace. Another locker room to experience.

Remember a few weeks ago when I had to venture into the "women's fitness center" because the were replacing the flooring in the locker room I use at the YMCA? And remember it was an odd place. Cramped. Lots of older women who didn't think twice about standing around in the nude? Wait, I didn't tell you about them? I must have tried to block the images from my brain. But they were there. Trust me.

Eventually I got back into the locker room I was comfortable in. New floor smell and all. And I liked it. The row of lockers that I always use. In the corner. I don't have to bend down to shove my gym bag in it because it's up on a riser thing. There's lot of room. Enough for elbows. And multiple people. It was home.

The YMCA folks decided more flooring needed to be replaced last week. This time it wasn't in the locker room itself but in the corridor leading from the locker room to the pool deck. So if you weren't planning on swimming, no problems. And I didn't have any.

Until today.

My bag was packed. Swimming suit. Swim cap. Goggles. Towel. It was all there. And I wanted to swim. I wanted to take those steps towards becoming a fish again.

But if I was going to swim, I had to venture into another foreign locker room. This time? The family locker room. For mothers and daughters. The pre-k child care class. And random pre-teen girls running around with no adult in sight.

Me? I don't fit any of those categories. I have no kids. I'm not a member of the child care class. And I'm long past the pre-teen years. Me? I'm a big kid now. A grown up. I belong in the women's locker room. But today I sucked it up and entered the family locker room.

Same short lockers. Not a lot of space. People comfortable with standing in the nude. Lots of open spaces with not a lot of privacy. I changed quick. Grabbed my towel, swim cap and goggles and heading out to the pool.

And once in the water, I was instantly relaxed. That made the locker room adventure worth it. I just swam. I only had time for 1,100 yards before my 35 minutes were up and I was kicked out of the pool by the youth swim team. I didn't want to leave the water yet though. So I wandered over to the hot tub and relaxed for a bit before heading back into that strange place also known as the family locker room.

An oversight from my earlier trip? Group showers. Ummm. I avoided those in high school. I wasn't about to do it now. So I threw on my sweats, towel dried my hair, packed up my things and I was out of there. Hopefully I won't have to return there until I actually need a family locker room.

Tomorrow it's back to my normal haunt. And someday they'll run out of floors to replace. At least I hope they will. Or at least move on to give the guys some of this locker room fun.