Our Stroller

Today was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining.  It wasn't frigidly cold.  Perfect weather for a walk outside.  Which means Baby Girl gets an adventure, and Mommy gets exercise!

It's times like these I'm super-grateful for our stroller.  And I think the munchkin is too -- because she sure does love to see the world!

Funny story about how we acquired our stroller...  So back in the days before our baby girl made her debut, we started stock-piling the baby equipment.  We decided to see what craigslist had to offer, because we don't mind used -- with certain criteria met.  So, for weeks, I scoured craigslist for all sorts of items.  Among them, a stroller and a car seat.

And one day, I found one that seemed reasonable.  So I emailed the person who put up the posting, wanting to know the manufacture date of the car seat (since they have expiration dates).  I told the hubby about it when he arrived home from work, but still hadn't heard back from the owner of the items, which I also told him.  His reply:  "Well, it's craigslist.  Half the time you're dealing with flakes." 

So, that night, we happened to have plans.  We were going to see a play our friend's son was in at a local high school, and then join a group of play-goers for dinner afterwards.  We did this.  And as we were pulling into the restaurant parking lot, it occurred to me to check my phone (which I'd silenced during the play). 

I had a message.  From a number I didn't recognize.

So I listened to it. 

It said (and I practically quote): The baby items you wanted are sitting outside your house.

Ummm...  Okay.  That was weird.  I wasn't sure if this was an incredibly weird coincidence wrong number.  Because I didn't give the owner of the items any contact numbers -- only my email address.  But how crazy would that be for it to have been a coincidence on the very day I was inquiring about baby items!?!  

So I told my husband.  And he was like, "If there are baby things outside of our house when we get home, I'm buying a gun."  Hahaha. 

So when we joined the group inside, we told them about this weird phone call from a number we didn't recognize.  I mean, it wasn't even a local (Washington State) area code, for crying out loud. 

Fortunately for us, someone with the group was way more sophisticated that we were (are) and had a smart-phone.  And looked up the phone number.  Which was a Minnesota number.

And as I pondered it a bit, I realized we did know people from Minnesota through church.  And I figured they might still have a phone with that area code (in this wonderful world of cell phones). 

Well, we were mostly right.  It turns out it was a friend of the couple who was visiting them.  They wanted it to be a surprise and just give us the baby gear, once they recognized my name on the email address.  And actually, the wife ended up texting me, since she was worried we would think showing up at our house and just seeing the stuff there would be freaky.  She told her husband they would be creepy.  Hahaha. 

And that's the story of the craigslist caper.  Seriously had us freaking out for a short time, though.  I mean, what are the odds!?!

I love that story.  And I love the stroller.  And I'm grateful for it and for the wonderful people who gave it (and the car seat) to us.  They've definitely been well-used!!

What are you grateful for today?