Today at the store the wind was whipping so hard outside – more than 20 mile per hour gusts – that people were having a hard time getting in and out of their cars. I don’t worry too much about my vehicle, the passenger side door is already banged up. I was running late, headed home with a few small bags, when an elderly woman started chasing her cart across the parking lot. She was a good 50 yards from me, running, and screaming. I thought, “Is she OK?”, “Is someone chasing her?” Then I realized it was the wind and saw her cart moving faster and faster and heard her yelling louder and louder.
So I took off running.
I had already been on a run in the morning. I ran 5 miles, in honor of most Boston marathon runners who couldn’t move all day because the race was yesterday. I know what that’s like as a marathoner but I can’t quite qualify for the big one – Boston that is. (Missed it by 2 minutes last year.) I also figured the Boston runners had to put up with much worse than a windy Chicago spring day.
It’s a good thing I only had time for 5 miles in the morning because my legs burned like hell in the parking lot going after that shopping cart. And I couldn’t do it slowly, either, it was headed straight for a line of cars. When I got closer to my finish line I noticed the cart wasn’t empty, either.
I swear this whole Supermom incident took less than 60 seconds but was the most rewarding payoff for my weekly sprints yet. The nice lady whose cart I saved thanked me over and over again with tears in her eyes. She told me she was terrified she was going to lose her purse, which she also admitted was filled with hundreds of dollars in cash (I must look trustworthy).
She also proceeded to ask me if I was warm enough in my coat, which brought tears to my eyes. She looked just like my great Aunt Sylvia when I was a kid – beautifully made up for an afternoon of errands, but with a Eastern European accent. She kept waving to me after we parted ways.
I always figured there was a reason I was meant to go from the kid touching her toes at dance team competition and doing countless ballet pleas on a stage, to sprinting across a parking lot like a track star. I had a purpose. I know Aunt Sylvia was watching over me today. And I know I was meant to land back in Sweet Home Chicago where the wind can’t stop me from running for a reason.
Seize the Day with Sarah 