My little cheerleader

Allana is well aware that how we humans live our lives directly affects our physical body. She watches a trim, healthy, young women jogging on TV and immediately calls out, "Mom, when can we go jawggin'?" To which I usually reply, "Soon, honey. But not now."
This scene repeated itself, almost verbatim, for weeks before I decided to begin my exercise routine about 3 weeks ago. Sometimes Allana goes around the block with me so she can "jawg" too...but most of the time it's just me and my headphones. I return to the house, hot and sweaty, and Allana always asks, "How was your run, Mommy? Do you feel good?" To which, I happily reply, "yes!"
Monday, I prepared to run and Allana begged to go with me. I told her, instead of running, she could be my little helper and hold my water bottle on the porch...and when I run by, she could hand it to me. I also added an "out" for her...if I took too long, she could just leave the bottle by the road and I would find it there.
As I ran, I took the longer route around the neighborhood so I could push myself a little further. I approached the house and immediately saw that Allana was no longer waiting on the porch. I'm not proud of this, but I thought, "crap. She went inside and now I'm going to have to stop my workout and find my water bottle..."
One picture stopped me in my new Nike's tracks. My water bottle was waiting for me, sweating beads of perspiration in the hot, humid July air. It was right where I usually keep it, safely placed at the edge of our driveway. In the blue screw-top lid, I found 2 purple wildflowers weaved into the latch.
My little cheerleader believes in me...and I love her for not only helping her mommy get off the couch and into her skinny jeans but doing it with all that's within her. She is encouraging beyond her 6 years and I'm amazed by her devotion and love of all beautiful things.