Right on time

At my yoga studio they close the door the minute class begins so that opening exercises and Om’s can be done without interruption.

Then, ten minutes into class, the doors are reopened and latecomers are allowed in.

I used to live around the corner from the studio. Since moving 10 blocks uptown, however, I have mis-timed my arrival a few times.

Life is busy these days. Idle time nags at me.

The other day, the teacher actually closed the door a minute before class was supposed to begin. I was sure I was going to make it when I rounded the corner in the Buddhist-monastery-esuqe hall to find the door closed.

“Fuck,” I said.

An older man rounded the corner a moment later.

“But we’re on time,” he said.

I shrugged.

"They need to-"

Then he brought his voice up a couple of notches.

"RESET THEIR CLOCKS."

The worst is arriving at the studio with only a couple of minutes to spare and finding the people behind the desk to be as slow as molasses. This happened the other day.

A man ahead of me in line got quite snappy when the woman behind the desk short-changed him.

"I gave you a TWENTY," he said.

I always get a bang out of people getting bitchy in yoga studios.

Today it was pouring down rain as I made my way to yoga. When I entered the building I looked at the clock on my cellphone.

5:44. The class was set to start at 5:45. I am definitely waiting outside today, I thought.

But when I got upstairs the teacher of my class was lingering behind the desk.

“You coming?” he said.

“Can I?”

“Of course."

And just like that, the one class I was sure I wasn’t going to make, I did.

Funny how that works.