You’ll never know how out of shape you are until you’ve climbed the stairs. That’s the realization I got after going up the stairs of the Preschool Department to fetch mateo after his class.

You see, earlier today, andrea was caught up in a class so she wasn’t able to run and stand at the entrance to the Preschool place in order to fetch mateo. I went in her place instead. When I saw mateo’s face frowning and showing a hint of frustration (perhaps because of not seeing andrea there) I immediately went up the stairs to get him. And around 2-3 steps per stride I climbed. As soon as mateo was within reach, he jumped towards me with a smile on his face. I wrapped my arms around him, carried him like I usually do, and nonchalantly climbed down.

I think I had around 5-8 steps left before the landing when I felt my calves twitch and started cramping. It was humiliating. The climbing (both up and down) didn’t even take more than 2 minutes and yet my muscles felt like they just had half an hour’s worth of treadmill exercise. That’s how out of shape I am. And it’s really scary.