A Little Over Whelmed

As I walked into Parrish Fitness Center, there was a lot activities going on. There were women chatting in the lobby. Weights were dropping on the ground. There was an annoying whining sound of the exercise bikes. The sauna was making a sizzling sound. There was screaming children in the playroom.

There was also,

• Old, sweaty men
• Musty locker rooms
• nauseating, stinky gym socks
• strong chlorine
• sweet, warm cookies from the playroom

The was cold metal weights on the floor. In the locker room there was damp, used towels. The playroom had many soft toys all over the place. I was getting a little tired so I grabbed me some hot, warm coffee. As I was picking up the playroom, I came across a sticky, slimy bouncy ball.

I wondered,

• how many people work out here?
• what time is it?
• when is this going to be over?
• how much weight could I bench

When I walked around more nasty socks and sticky body odor were lying on my tongue. There was harsh chlorine chemicals all around me. But then I wanted to take some of the sweet cookies and refreshing apple juice

Wow, the stuff while I was at Parrish,

• cute boys working out
• children playing on the monkey bars
• old people swimming in the pool
• all of the exercising machines

What an interesting day!

Fun Day At the Zoo

Parrish Fitness Center is like The Zoo. The children are like animals. Some are wild and crazy, while others are content. It is exciting to see them in their natural habitats.

• monkeys hanging on the monkey bars
• alligators swimming in their pools
• warthogs chowing down on snacks
• lions wrestling with one another
• turtles hiding in their shells
• gazelles running all over the place
• bears bulling all the other animals

Parrish Fitness Center Children Center is a safe environment for the children to play like the zoo is safe for the animals to live in. The workers are professionally trained and are up-to-date on the latest care giving techniques. You do not need to worry when your at the Children Center.

Advocacy

Parrish Fitness Center's Children Center not only is a place where parents drop off their children when they want to pump some iron or walk on the treadmill. They also promote friendship. There are hundreds of families who go to Parrish Fitness Center and put their children through the Children Center. Leaving your child with someone to care for can be a very tough thing to do, but Parrish has wonderful playroom for children to play along with others. Parrish Fitness Center in itself has also created many friendships by:

• having a free weight partner
• treadmill buddy
• swimming partner
• someone you just see in the lobby

Cause and Effect

So I have been trying to volunteer at Parrish Fitness Center's Children Center for about 3 weeks now. I can never get a hold of this lady who is in charge. I'm wondering how she makes a living off this job, seeing she is never there. If I had already volunteered there, I could have made a difference in a child's life, some things being:

• taught a child to read
• taught a child to play with other children
• taught a child to learn a new sport

If I taught them to read, they could become a straight A student. If I taught them to play with others, they could be the most popular kid at their school. If I taught them to learn a new sport, they could be amazing at it and get a scholarship. Instead I'm sitting at home thinking about this.

On My Way

On my way to Parrish Fitness Center, as I was going down Hwy 50, I had the windows down and the radio blasting. I really was not sure what to expect as I pulled into the parking lot because the last time I had been there was when I was 10 for the "Family Fitness Fun Days". As I walked in, the lady sitting at the counter greeted me with a friendly smile and hello. I could not believe how much exercising equipment they had.

• tread mills
• stair steppers
• elliptical
• exercise bikes
  
• free weights
  

As I walked on, the left was full of exercise bikes and on the right, there were stair steppers. All the way in the back corner was the free weights; a place I will probably never adventure to. On down to the right is were they have two different indoor swimming pools. Further on down the hallway to your left is the Children's Center. It is probably one of the coolest places for a kid to play at. They have an indoor jungle gym with monkey bars! Memories came back to me as I was just standing there. All the children playing were having such a good time, chasing after each other playing tag. Made me wish I could be a kid again!