The Jogger

This is a short story about a cute girl I saw jogging last week, or was it the week before? It may have even been the week before that, but it was definitely sometime in August.

There I was, sitting at the light at 173rd and Walker ... waiting. It had been a rushed morning like usual and I'd just dropped T off at day care and was on my way home to pick up The Scoot to carpool to work. The light was taking forever - long enough for me to notice the little mom jogging with her two kiddos. I watched her cross the adjacent street as I slowed to a stop and continued watching her as she crossed the street in front of the car in front of me.

As I watched a number of things went through my head ...
"I have a Phil and Ted's tandem stroller just like that, but it's bright green"
"I used to have jogging pants just like that!"
"She looks a lot better wearing those jogging pants than I did."
"If I jogged I'd probably lose my last few pounds of baby weight."
"That toddler in the back seat looks older than T."
"What pretty curls! My niece has curls like that."

I watched her as she reached the other side and waited to cross and go back up the south side of Walker road and thought ...

"She looks like she has naturally curly hair in braids"
"no wait, that's just regular hair in messy braids. Cute!"
"Her braids must be messy from jogging - mine would be"
"That blue stroller looks really faded. I bet she uses it all the time."
"My sister has a stroller just like that."
"Hey! That IS my sister!"

I rolled down the window, yelled her name, and waved. I can't believe it took me what must have been minutes to recognize my own sister and the hand me down jogging pants I'd given to her the previous weekend.