Two Shoes

In my last job I traveled internationally for work frequently so Matt and I were forced to come up with a routine early so that he and the girls could have a seamless week.  In our spare bedroom I would lay out outfits for every day of the week for daycare, complete with matching socks and backups in case an accident happened.  If there was picture day or some event at daycare, I would make sure that everything was already picked out.  I would make as many meals and goodies as I could so that Matt didn’t have to worry about any of those things.  For the most part, we were able to plan everything in advance, but there are always unforeseen mishaps.  We lived in Alexandria at the time and were fortunate enough to have lots of running paths and trails by our house so that Matt could take the girls for a run without having to cross any major streets.  This was always an important characteristic for me because as capable as Matt is, there are still bad drivers.  On one trip I called Matt to check in and he tells me he lost one of Emily’s shoes.  Now if you have kids, you know that a pair of shoes that will fit about three or four months can cost $50.  We had just bought those new shows the day before I left.  Before I can get in a word, he starts telling about his six mile run with the girls and how he decided to go to Home Depot afterwards.  Before he went in the store, he checked in on the girls and Marisa threw one of her shoes at him laughingly.  As he put it on he realized that Emily was short a shoe, too, but wasn’t playing with it.  He turned around and started back out on the trail to look for it.  So here we have two grumpy kids who want to get out of the stroller and a dad who can’t see looking for a tiny shoe wondering what Emily will wear to daycare all week.  Matt asked everyone going by if they had seen the shoe.  One unhelpful biker commented on how expensive little kid shoes are.  Finally, a famiy out for a bike ride said that they had seen a shoe on the trail.  The mom had the dad go back and get it, thankfully.  A few minutes later the dad gave Matt Emily’s shoe.  Matt decided his now 12 mile run was long enough and opted to go home instead of going through Home Depot.   If that family is reading this blog, thank you so much for helping Matt!