My Heaven-sent Birthday Present

I had been feeling the push to get out and exercise, so last year, for my birthday, I wanted only one thing....a Nike+ Sportband. #1 had one, and I thought it would be so much more encouraging to exercise if I was able to track my progress.

The birthday envelopes limit how extravagant a birthday can be, and I knew this, but that was the ONLY thing on my list.

If you're not aware of just what a Nike+ Sportband is, let me give you a quick illustration.....

image: sportshoes.com

It's basically a watch. You wear the band on your wrist, but there is a chip (I don't know what it's officially called, but for now that will do) that is oval-ish in shape. The chip needs to attach to your shoe in order to keep track of your workout.

image: reodeekay.wordpress.com

They have shoes in which you can place the chip. They have a little compartment under the insole in the actual sole of the shoe. You slide the chip in, and voila. You're ready to go. But, you can also place the chip in a little pouch you can purchase and attach it to your shoelaces.

When you leave on a run, or in my case a walk, you hold down the
button on the band. The chip tracks how far you've gone, how many calories you've burned, and other important information while you exercise.

When you return, you slip the actual watch unit from the band itself and slide the USB into your computer. It reads the information and reports it to you in the form of a graph. It also keeps track of such things as how many workouts you've done during time periods, how far you've gone altogether, and how fast you were moving during your workout.

image: watchreport.com

Can you blame me for wanting one of these?

Well, this was going to cost the entire birthday budget. I would just attach the chip to my shoelaces. That was the plan, but I have to be honest, I was fearful the chip would fall off, and I'd be unable to use the band anymore without going out and buying a replacement chip.

My birthday is in April. I told the Warden my desire in February. In early March, a friend approached me. She said she'd cleaned out her closet and found a number of pairs of shoes, some of which had never been worn. What shoe size was I, and would I be interested in the shoes?

Of course!

A few days later, she brought me a few pairs of brand new shoes. I pulled them out and tried them on. Among these was a pair of tennis shoes. With my goal to exercise, I was very happy for these.

When #1 got home from work that evening, I showed her the shoes I'd inherited. She turned them over and looked at the sole...."Mom, do you know what this means?" She pointed at a symbol on the bottom of the shoe.

It looked like this:

image: thestrengthinside.com

"These are shoes that are set up for a Sportband."

In other words, these shoes I had just so kindly been given had the spot in the sole for the chip. No WAY!

So, here I was awaiting my birthday and a VITAL part of using the only thing I wanted had just showed up. My friend had no clue what I had asked for for my birthday. After talking to her and thanking her for the shoes later on, I shared with her why these shoes were so significant. It turns out that she wasn't aware of just what that symbol meant or that these shoes had that capability.

I had received what I felt were gifts from heaven before. I think with this many chance occurrences that happen in my life, luck is no longer a practical reason for this kind of thing to happen. 

I got the idea that I wasn't the only one who wanted me exercising. 

We went out later and used the birthday budget. I've been exercising ever since.

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