“Are you ready to go?” I ask Annabelle after Daddy says goodbye for the morning. She looks at me with a super big smile as she tries to grab my shoelaces to my running shoes. My work out begins by lifting her chubby self into the overworked jogging stroller…humphhh…The brisk cool morning wind hits our faces as we head off for our wake up ritual. We pass between the fence of the seawall being constructed and a looming apartment building. The construction workers will just be getting there when we pass by here on our return. They will greet us with their quiet nods, holding their traffic flags.
Next we run along the completed seawall that is speckled with wetsuit-clad surfers and scuba divers. I run along their lemming footprints that lead from their cars to the ocean. Then we pick up the pace in order to pass the dog walkers who are bending down to pick up the steaming piles of poop. Some are even skilled enough to place the plastic bag just under their fuzzy friends end to skip the squishy pick up step. But the smell is always just as bad. Ugh, that alone keeps me from wanting a pet.
Further down we hear the two women who are speed walking, talking up a storm donned with their sweat catching towel on their head covered and secured by a floppy hat. I nicknamed them “the gossipers” as they always seem to be sharing loudly about some event that I wish I understood.
By this time we have reached the end of the sea wall and now head up a block or two to hit the sidewalk. The Okinawan children are now off to school. Ironically, the gray uniforms head north while the blue uniforms head south to their respective learning facilities. “Ohio Gaizimos!” The cross guard says as I pass. Sometimes those are too many syllables for me to spit out so my mouth greets, “Morning”! He is an older gentleman with a bright yellow jacket and flag to announce his duty. The kids all high-five him as they make it across the road safely one more time. Now its my turn to zig zag the migrating flock of youngsters as they blindly chatter with their friends along their pilgrimage.
We turn off the sidewalk and enter a walkway that goes around yet another apartment complex. I nod my head to more dog walkers and the occasional runner. We pass Mac Man (the Okinawan Home Depot), the movie theater, a partial mall, a ferris wheel, and then a huge shopping center. We say good morning to the guard who is taking down the parking barriers for the day to begin. As we round the back of the shopping center I slow down in anticipation of what comes next…the smell of baking bread and donuts. If it were not closed, my belly would soon look like one of those donuts, round and puffy from the daily indulgence.
This is the beginning of the end of my run. Sometimes, if the wind is cooperating, I can even hear Camp Lester play the national anthems. I smile proudly. We then come upon one more construction site. This one is a beautiful hotel being built on beachfront property. If we time it right, we can see the workers in their blue coveralls and white hard hats forming their lines for their morning stretches and calisthenics. No joke! There is a leader, a radio, and chuckles from me as I pass trying not to make it so obvious that Im staring at them. Too funny!
We return home the way we came seeing the new wave of Okinawans who are on the seawall doing their stretches and walks. The fishermen are lined up as well with their cigarettes hanging from their mouth and their stinky bait at their side. I’ll see the old guy holding a tennis ball for his small shaggy friend pass by while the nanny heads in the other direction pushing her stroller to indulge in the fresh sea air. Breakfast smells emerge from windows above as cars bustle off to work.
We arrive back home with Annabelle now asleep and me winded. We head upstairs for her nap and my relaxing cup of coffee with the readers digest by my side. Our day has begun.