A Moment...with Meagan

On this segment of "A Moment...with Meagan,"  I will talk about an experience I shared with another individual this past month that really got me thinking.  No, it wasn't a deep conversation about such topics as religion, politics, children, or anything that would matter, it actually had nothing to do with any of that.  In fact, the other individual which whom I speak of has no idea he had anything to do with any experience I had.  So let's begin.  As I have talked about before, Hubert got me a wonderful jogging stroller for our anniversary, but because the weather here in Utah has been so cold, I have only been able to use it for short walks, that is, until last week.  You see, all of the sudden the days got warmer, the sun was out, and I wanted to take advantage of the weather so I decided to go on a little jog with my daughter in tow.  Now, there was a time, long long ago, where I used to be an avid jogger.  In no way was I running marathons, but I was up to about five miles a day and loving it.  I have never been in better shape nor have I ever felt better.  It wasn't until Hubert's seed found purchase that I stopped jogging due to pregnancy sickness and the overall hugeness that became of me.  But that was all going to change last wednesday.  As I got to the paved jogging path, I was overcome with the sense of health and well being; as if I was the most health conscious and in-shape person that Farmington, UT had ever seen.  It's funny what happens when you used to be in shape and want to be in shape again.  You seem to forget, or at least I do, that it took months and months to be able to get where I was at, but that wasn't stopping me.  I was going to run those five miles my first day back.  And so I began, and of course at the beginning you feel great, like you could do this for hours.  Two minutes later, I thought I was going to pass out.  Even though I had this feeling of doom, I wanted to push myself to at least run a mile, just one mile.  So I pushed and I pushed and kept going until I was sweating like a pig at a luau, my gut was hanging out, and my breathing was so loud it seemed as though the neighborhood children were running inside their homes for safety because they thought a werewolf was after them.  Along this jogging path, I encountered an elderly gentlemen walking towards me.  I didn't miss a beat, kept at the pace I was going at (which was a little bit faster than crawling), looked at him and nodded, and didn't give him a second thought.  It wasn't until further down the path when I saw him.  He was a young boy, probably 11 or 12, and all of the sudden I was extremely self-conscious of myself.  I will also say this, right after I passed the older gentleman, I was going to start walking, but when I saw this kid I made myself still run.   As I got closer to him, I found myself sucking in my stomach, breathing through my nose, and even running faster and as I passed him, he made no sign that he knew I existed.  So why did I do this?  That where this "moment" comes into play.  After this incident, I started to think about why this pimpley little kid made me so self-conscious and I came to a conclusion.  First, I will show my 7th grade ID.  

I know, it's no good.  When I moved to Utah, I was 11 years old, chubby, horribly shy, oh, and I had a horrific perm.  Because of all of these things, boys and me didn't mix and I was always horrified of what they thought of me.  You would think that 16 years later I would have gotten over this, but apparently boys of this age still effect me, BUT NO MORE!  I will no longer be uncomfortable around pre-teen boys who have no significance on my life.  Instead, I will jog by at a pace slower than when  my daughter rolls over, be completely unaware that my loud breathing will wake the dead and finally, be proud of my post-baby stomach and all of the glory it beholds (and it's a lot).  

Thank you for sharing my moment.