One day in March before the girls were born, my aunt Lisa called me from their car. A friend of theirs who had twins was giving away their stroller. "It was barely used, fancy jogging stroller with mountain biking tires, in mint condition...the friends were glad to pass it on. It's just amazing..." my aunt Lisa was saying. "It's a cad-a-laaaaac!" I could hear my uncle Ronnie adding in the background.
"Cool. What brand is it?" I asked, as Charles and I had been looking at jogging strollers. I figured if it was a brand I knew then I could estimate the cost of the stroller. "Valco? VB? Val-co...does that sound familiar?" My aunt asked. "No," I replied. "But it sounds really nice. We will take it."
My sister Guinevere (Aunt Gigi) drove the stroller from Palm Desert, ten hours north to Napa, in her car on her trek to visit the girls when they were born in March. When Charles went home that night to check on the dog he saw the stroller for the first time. He came back to the hospital and told me all about it. "It is an amazing stroller. It is super nice. I looked it up on the internet. It's like an $800.00 stroller. It's a super-stroller."
"Cool," I said. "We needed a jogging stroller because we already have a portable stroller, the McClaren."
"It's just that....well....one side of the stroller is pink and the other side is bright blue," he confessed. After a moment of picturing it I replied, "Oh, like a boy and a girl?"
"Yeah. It's like a custom ordered stroller. The people before us must have ordered it special that way because they don't sell that type of stroller online. I looked," Charles explained.
"Oh well," I responded. "Who cares? It's free!"
This was the beginning of our pink and blue story. This stroller is our favorite. It goes up and down the stairs to our house. The girls sit in it on our patio and listen to the water fountain. I stroll them out into the garden over rocks and dirt piles to watch us plant and pick. I put the girls in it so they can watch me mow the front lawn. I sat them in the stroller in the living room while I did work out videos (admittedly like three times...). But most importantly, we take walks
everyday in this stroller through downtown.
It is our favorite because it is such a smooth ride. It goes over bumps like a four-by-four. Anyone that knows Napa knows what a crappy condition the streets, sidewalks and curbs are in this town. Therefore, this is a crucial feature. The basket area below is big enough to hold a gallon of milk, a bag of groceries and a small diaper bag. It has a cup-holder. It has two pockets for keys and cell phones. The girls can have variable reclining positions. It has a four point harness system. And it has a sun cover which is adjustable, and at the same time strong enough to hold a shopping basket on top (at the grocery store).
But this huge sun cover is half pink and half blue. In fact, it is so prominent, we have had people stop their cars while they are driving down the street and yell out "Hey, do you have a boy and a girl twin?! My mom's, grandmas, second cousin's best friend had a boy and girl twin!"
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| See the pink and blue? |
To everyone else (people in the grocery store, people walking past you, cashiers, old people, young people, toddlers, and teenagers) who asked, "Do you have twins?"
"Yes," we would reply.
"A boy and a girl?" they ask. At first I tried to be helpful and explain. "Well no, actually. It's two girls. We just got the stroller from a friend."
But then later, after about 20 other people asking the same question, I decided to be clever. "A boy and a girl?" they ask. "Two girls. We're just cheap."
But then later, after about 20 other people asking the same question, Charles decided to do a little make over. He switched the inside head rests so that the pink one is inside the blue one and the blue one is inside the pink one. And we bought name plates at the local toy store that he velcroed to the top that say "Anna" and "Abby."
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See how he switched the inside head rests? Boy does that confuse people.
I've had them ask me if I had two boys. (Granted in this picture they are both wearing Giants outfits-Go Giants!). Never have I had someone ask if they were both girls. It's so weird! |
But then later, after about 20 other people asking the same question, we decided to dress the girls particiularly feminine. In dresses. All pink or all purple. With bows.
Still, people would ask, "Twins? Boy and a girl?"
Finally, we decided to just go along. "Yup" we reply.
Now our stroller is famous. I had a friend stop by today for a walk. She was talking to a friend of hers whom I have never met. When she mentioned I had twins, her friend asked, "Is she the one with the pink and blue stroller?"
Such is life in a small town...
