Bad Judgment

Today worked out quite nicely much like yesterday, what with the napping, self-occupied, and early-to-bed SamSam. Work went well, Sami ate her meals really quite heartily, and at bedtime, all went so smoothly. But I exhibited some really bad judgment this afternoon.

I was done working around 4:45. And it was the first really cool, fall-ish type of day, that just invigorates me. It has been so hot here the past couple of days. Temperatures in the upper 80s and 90 are just too warm for October. Especially when your office is in the southwest corner of the hot upstairs of your house and has 4 windows.

Anyway, so all day, I had deemed a walk to the grocery store was in order. My excuse was that she was out of her kind of milk. It is a little over 1 mile to the store, and just a nice-sized walk for exercise and getting “out” after a day inside on a beautiful day.

I’ve been having this weird old-lady-like hip pain, and a little cold, that has precluded me from walking like this very much the past couple of weeks, and I could tell I wasn’t exercising enough when I got on the scale. Anyway, my hip was feeling pretty stable, and I did a quick 20 minute workout of leg work, leg lifts, and sit-ups before we left, and was feeling pretty good.

I knew it was cool outside and all, but I still dressed in shorts and a tank top onaccounta I get so warm when I’m walking. But I did dress Sami in jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt—with socks too.

I gathered up our “walk belongings” and loaded her up in the stroller, then set the house alarm. Once in the garage and ready to leave, I realized I didn’t have the spare blanket I usually keep in the stroller should we encounter inclement weather. But the thought of unarming the alarm, and leaving a keening Sami in the garage by herself while I retrieved it from upstairs convinced me to go without it.

We stepped outside, and I kind of noticed that despite the sunshine, there appeared to be a rather ominous front developing over the mountains to the west. I rationalized that I could make it to the store and back in under 45 minutes if I kept up a good pace, and took off anyway. Even though my little cautionary inner voice was nagging at me to turn back.

It was a bit breezy—but okay—on the way there. We only had to grab about 4 items at the store, but the line at the deli was really long. When we walked out my heart sank… the front had moved in, and it was wildly windy and cold. The temperature had dropped probably 15 or 20 degrees, and it was windy, and misting, and cold. The wind was coming in right from the direction we were heading—to the north.

It was a very long trip home despite the fact that I ran most of the way. Didn’t even know I had that in me—and it turns out that running while pushing about 60 pounds of stroller, baby and groceries, along with the wind-resistance of putting up the canopy on the stroller was a remarkably good aerobic workout. Sami just screamed about the final 5 blocks. She was cold, and disturbed by the strong wind in her face, and picking up on my anxiety over subjecting my dear, sweet baby to this horrible weather. We ran into about 5 people out walking dogs, biking or jogging – but all of them were dressed in long pants, with long sleeves and sweatshirts, and looked at me like I was truly insane in my shorts and tank-top, with my screaming red-nosed baby.

We made it home okay, of course. And I gave her a bottle of really warm milk right away, and she was fine. But I know that next time I will pay attention to that feeling of venturing out against my good judgment.

About 5 minutes after we got home and settled in, it started pouring rain with lightening and thunder. It was really quite cold. Turns out it is supposed to snow tonight.

She’s snug in bed in her fleecy, footie pajamas, with an extra t-shirt underneath to keep her warm through the night.