Shopping alone is boring. When I go to the store now, I make sure to bring my kids. This ensures that I won't spend extra time browsing (which in turn means spending extra money), that one of my kids will be crying and a selfless customer will let us cut to the front of the line and that people will go home praying for a frazzled mom and her cute kids.
One of my favorite shopping experiences was this past fall. We were having friends over to carve pumpkins. Last minute, I decided I wanted to run to the grocery store and grab a couple of bottles of wine for the party.
Unfortunately, I mean luckily, Bryan was at basketball practice, so I
had to was able to bring all three kids with me. However, I wasn't too worried, it was going to be a quick trip.
I unloaded our massive double stroller from the van and loaded it up with the boys. I held Cami's hand and awkwardly pushed the beastly stroller across the parking lot. When we got inside the store, I hustled us over to the wine, grabbed a couple bottles and started making my way to the check out line.
Things were going surprisingly well, but they almost instantly turned bad. Cami wrenched free from me and ran toward the candy stand next to the register, Jace started crying and Grant took it to the next level by doing a little screaming over Jace's cries.
I looked around apologetically, rushed over to Cami and told her we weren't having candy today. She decided to act her age and laid on the floor kicking, screaming and crying. Meanwhile, the boys also continued to cry. Looking like "Mom-of-the-year" with screaming kids and only bottles of wine in my basket, I threw them down on the counter (don't worry, they didn't break. They were plastic...we're classy like that) and tried to pay and get out of there as quickly as I could.
A lady behind me, who had been observing the excitement, came up to me and whispered in my ear, "We started drinking when we had kids too...Are you sure that is enough?"
I smiled and instantly laughed, feeling much better about the entertainment I had just provided the customers at Fresh & Easy.