Leah

This morning, I was extremely glad to get to the gym. I couldnt understand why I was so distressed about the fact that for the past three days, snow and ice had kept me from working out. Frustration, sadness and worry seemed to wrack my brain every afternoon. Like an essential question in the back of my head had not been answered or something. It hit me all at once after I had reached the women’s locker room and was putting away my coat and putting on my headphones. As a matter of fact, it jumped right in front of me and almost scared me out of my shoes.
“Good Morning, TJ!” Once I could breathe again, I beamed from ear to ear. Leah gets to the gym before me every morning and works out hard. If I work out like her, maybe I’ll have those Tina Turner legs or something. I asked Leah how she was doing and she said she was fine and that the weather was quite cold. I speak to Leah just about every day, usually hi and bye or a few comments about the weather or something.
Monday, I got an entirely new insight into Leah’s life.I was on the treadmill and one of the men in the club started speaking to her. I put on my earphones and started working out, but I’m gifted with “mommy hearing”, which means I can hear the music on my stereo, the television in the next room and everything that people are saying upstairs. I think it comes layer by layer as you have kids because I have four kids and my hearing is something else. He asked how she was and that he was looking out for her because it was extremely cold the night before since Leah sleeps in a tent. I kept looking forward and working out, because another thing that comes with mommy hearing is knowing when to let people know you’ve heard them and knowing when to be quiet.
Leah is homeless. She has a nice truck, but she’s homeless. She goes to the grocery store, but she’s homeless. She has a gym membership, but she’s homeless. I think I was really worried about how she would fare in the six inches of snow we got earlier this week and I was so glad that she was doing well. That she didnt have a serious cold or anything. I have to pretend like I never heard that conversation and I wont bring up her living situation unless she shares it with me. I’ll continue to greet her every morning just like I always did. And pray for her to keep warm in the cold weather.