Last Reps, First Vows

Endings, beginnings, and three new releases—essay, horror, and urban-noir.

I’ve been going to the LA Fitness on US-1 and 160th for over fifteen years, the one a few blocks from my parents’ house, next to BrandsMart. I can map my whole fitness life inside those walls. Bad form to good, walking to running to swimming, the years I vanished, the years I showed up every day.

I went back yesterday. A goodbye sign was sitting on the counter next to where you check-in, the gym closing permanently on December 17. Two days after we get back from the honeymoon.

As a writer, I’m always on the hunt for metaphors, and this one was particularly easy to find. End of the year. End of an era. End of the life I’ve lived up to now, and the beginning of the one I chose.

Big changes can carry joy, sure, but they also inevitably carry a small bit of melancholy. Even the good ones.

Today, I’ll say my vows. I’ll pledge the rest of my days to my wife and the family we plan to make. I’m ready to leave the past life behind, even as I still feel the tug to honor it on the way out.

So: RIP to the past. Thanks for getting me here. And a toast to the future—today’s wedding, the people flying in, all the noise we’re about to make, and the life we’re about to live.

New This Week

Growing Up Against Toxic Masculinity (The Pub — creative nonfiction)
Raised by women, taught to spot the poison early and throw it out.
Read: https://medium.com/the-pub/growing-up-against-toxic-masculinity-084b29cd1d7c?sk=0028cf2060fd9cc8d40b23edd89cea94

Don’t Pass the Peach Tree (The Lark — horror)
Small-town Texas. A rule on a farmhouse. A thing in the dark that doesn’t like to be crossed.
Read: https://medium.com/the-lark/dont-pass-the-peach-tree-4b5de033fa10?sk=c36a1eac03559c60c296afddf8cd138c

As usual, check out the main site at:

https://patrickandersonjr.com/

Thanks for reading and sharing. See y’all on the other side.
—Patrick