Our Second Not-So-Galmourous Mommy Moment is brought to you by my sweet friend Bethany from Confessions of a Chosen One. This precious mama has 3 sweet babies two years old and under. To say her life is busy, would be an understatement.
Now onto her tale:
I’m standing at the front of the checkout line, at what has to be the busiest time of day for this small town Wal-Mart. Bags of groceries surround my feet, a sea of people pushing their way through the line, talking on cell phones and yelling at small children, trying to get around the mess I’ve managed to create. I look towards the door and sigh, as my son throws a fit in my arms and desperately tries to escape my grasp. How, exactly, did I get myself into this mess? Well, let me start at the beginning.
Every week, I make one big grocery run. Because I have three very young children (two and under), who can sometimes be difficult to corral in such a large store, and who pretty much take up the entire shopping cart, I tend to find a time to shop when I can leave them at home, i.e. when their daddy is home from work. Well, in an effort to be noble, and allow the time when my husband is home to be spent as a family, I decided to make the trek to Wal-Mart with ALL THREE KIDS. I really didn’t have too much to buy, so I decided we could surely survive and be in and out in no time.
We arrived at Wal-Mart, my list in hand, two toddlers sitting in the cart, and my six-month old in the front in her car seat. I knew I had to move fast, because complete and utter meltdowns can occur at any moment. All went surprisingly smooth, and we even made it to the checkout lane with everyone all smiles! Success!
The girl rang up all of our items, and I proceeded to pay with a brand new ATM card, which I thought I had activated before we left the house. After two or three attempts, it was clear the card was not going through. To add to my humiliation, I had absolutely nothing else to pay with, because my purse was recently stolen. I stammered as I tried to explain my predicament to the cashier. I could not just walk away, there was a week’s worth of groceries all bagged up and ready to go! What was I supposed to do, go and put everything back? But my kids were already starting to fuss, so I knew I didn’t have much time.
I quickly called my husband and told him to book it to Wal-Mart to pay for our groceries. The cashier then cancelled the transaction and moved on to the next customer, while I stood at the front surrounded by bags of groceries, and my shopping cart, which held three small children past the point of no return. My son, throwing a fit, demanded he be held, my two year old daughter sat in the cart bawling her eyes out for reasons beyond my comprehension, and my baby girl cried, making a desperate plea for me to remove her from the constrains of her car seat. And so, we waited. And we waited. Watching, as customer after customer checked out and walked past, giving me that, “You poor thing, I feel so sorry for you,” look that strangers like to give an exhausted mother whose children are screaming.
Finally, after what felt like five hours (but was more likely fifteen minutes), my husband arrived; we re-rang the groceries, and promptly left the store, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone who may have witnessed the display. I brought my sweet children home, and they each crashed in their beds for an afternoon nap, while I put away groceries and thought, “Seriously? What was I thinking??”
And so tonight, after dinner and bedtimes, I went grocery shopping. Alone. And although this took away an hour of my evening with my husband, I think everyone is much happier this way! Ah, the sacrifices we make on this journey of motherhood!
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