Something Funny Happened the Other Day

I haven't posted in a while...

I haven't felt very inspired...

But, since my husband, of all people, commented to me that he had been visiting my blog and hadn't seen anything new, I thought I'd better figure something out!!!

So, here's kind of a funny story... (I actually wrote this up for a newspaper article that we submit for the library, so some of you may see this again...)


Al and I took the kids grocery shopping in Charles City last Sunday after church. As some of you already know, grocery shopping with all 3 kids is an experience in and of itself. When we got there, I picked the cart with a truck underneath of it for Casey to ride in. Emily and Carter took turns riding with him even though they were too big for it. They would sit sideways, letting their feet hang out of the door. Amusing picture, I know, but the cart moves much faster when two of the three children are riding as opposed to only one. Emily and Carter chose to ride thusly because first of all, they would get tired. You know how tiring it is walking around a big grocery store, especially for an 8 and 6 six year old. Second of all, they were making Casey happy so that he would stop yelling, “Sissy! Dardar! (Carter!) Get in! Sissy! Dardar!”
We were talking amongst ourselves a lot, not too loudly though, I don’t think. I would ask Emily and Carter to grab things from our list that we needed to help speed up our shopping and also to give them something to do. Besides, they think it is really cool when they get to make a decision and pick something out. I didn’t think that we were being particularly disruptive.
As we shopped, sometimes one or two of us would head off in another direction to pick something up and then meet back up at the cart which I was pushing most of the time. Toward the back of the store, near the dairy aisle, my husband Al and Emily veered off for a few minutes to get drinkable yogurts, Casey’s absolute favorite thing! When they returned to the cart, Al told me that there were people telling him which aisle we had turned down so that he could find us. Then a little later, I realized that we had forgotten chicken nuggets, a staple in our household. Not wanting to turn that big truck/cart around, I opted to run over to the frozen foods aisle by myself and grab the needed item. I passed a lady and her husband on my way and she pointed out to me that I had “lost” my cart. This gave me pause. I wondered if we were really “bothering” all of these people in Hy-Vee or if, as I’ve so often been told from people before, were they enjoying watching us? You know how when you are the parent it always seems as if your children are being really too loud and noisy and people everywhere must be thinking, “Why don’t they just leave those kids at home?” You worry and worry until you are yelling at your children to be quiet and at this point you just want to go home.
In conversation with some older people from our church, I have been told before not to worry. Our children are not bothering them. They enjoy watching them and love to reminisce about their own child rearing days remembering how they thought their children were being troublesome to other people and remembering how hard it was to have children and teach them when to be quiet, sit still, etc. Also, since their children are all grown up, these people from my church, just enjoy seeing children and how full of life they are. Hopefully, this was what was going on in Hy-Vee on Sunday. So, I’m telling myself today to relax just a little and enjoy the life that my children bring to me because someday soon they will be all grown up and dealing with their own life struggles. And, if my family really was bothersome grocery shopping on Sunday, I hope you all can laugh about it today and that everyone out there with children can relate. I know you can…