Key

I ran 7 miles with the baby in the jogger stroller yesterday at 12:30pm.  The stroller is a black Baby Trend Expedition LX which is kind of funny because the car I drive is a black Expedition.  I got it (the stroller) in 2001 when my oldest was born.  It is awkward to push (I think most strollers are) and it veers to the right so I constantly have to adjust.  However, I should point out that we have acquired other jogger stroller brands, both double and single, since then, and the Expedition still outperforms all the others.

One of these is my car

and the other is

the jogger...

Each of my children has been pushed and bounced around in this stroller, whether they liked it or not.  Usually, they like it.  First, they will see me getting ready to leave for my run and beg to come along.  They like it for the first two miles, at some point they get bored and want to go home, then they eventually fall asleep.  It ends up being a win/win situation for everyone.

Yesterday was sunny and windy at 60 degrees.  I wore shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt and I wrapped the baby in a blanket (The baby is 3 years old, by the way.  I will always refer to her as the baby, even in 30 years.  That's just how it is).  I brought along the purple coiled key chain.  The coil was too stretched out to fit on my wrist so I placed it in the tray at the top of the stroller.  I chose a route where I could run safely in the streets for most of the run.  There was about a mile of sidewalk running.  The baby complained of the bumps at the beginning, but by mile 4 she was well on her way to Dreamland.

I got home and opened the front storm door only to discover that my key was no longer in the tray.  FUUUCK!  I checked to see if it slipped  behind the baby, but it was nowhere to be found.  Two of my neighbors have copies of the house keys for emergencies (This would be an emergency in my book).  One neighbor was at work so we walked down to the other's house.  Her car was in the driveway!  Yay!  No answer at the door.  Boo.  I started retracing my steps while trying to remember the last time I glanced and saw the key in the tray.  As I was heading down Hempstead Avenue, I rationalized that retracing 7 miles again was not only unrealistic but also the last thing I wanted to do at that moment.  I'll just run the same route tomorrow and hopefully find the key along the way.  No one's going to take a random key they find in the middle of the street, right?  I wondered if I could now break into the house?  Of course, I locked the first floor windows the night before because Pete's away (And of course, Pete's away so he won't be any help).  Did I skip a window?  Could I climb up to a window easily?  Will someone call the police when they see me breaking into my house?  Are there going to be spiderwebs in the bushes?  Ugh!  As I walked back onto my block, I saw a new car in my neighbor's driveway that wasn't there before I left!  Hooray!  She was home and gave me the key.  I made it back into the house!  I dragged the stroller inside and let the baby continued to sleep for another half hour.

The baby woke up and we went about our business for the rest of the day.  In the evening, as I was picking up toys in the living room, what did I happen to find?  Yep, you guessed it.  The key was on the floor.  It must have been in the stroller and fallen out when I took the baby out.  Welcome to my world.

At least I didn't break any windows, right?