Insert kids for happy memories

I'm not a shopper.  I don't love going to the mall or traipsing around various department stores...even Target, which is Pier 1 for the common man.  Instead, I shop with purpose.  Oh, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE grocery shopping.  (Yes, that's three loves.) 

I love meandering down the aisles and picking out the food for the week.  There's something about grocery shopping that screams love to me.  And maybe it's just the good times I anticipate with the kids while I prepare the meals and we eat together, while we discuss our days and joke around. 

Through the years my grocery shopping has evolved.  There was a time that I used to go by myself, squeeze it in when I didn't have any little ones with me.  See, some people have those begging, whining, screaming, tantrum throwing children.  Not me.  No, Rachel was always so sweet and innocent, all the while quietly loading the cart with whatever items her sticky little paws could reach.  That was a costly lesson.  So, I was that annoying woman who had to steer the cart directly down the center of the aisle so her child's stubby little arms couldn't reach anything.  ANYTHING! 

Fast forward to present day.  Rachel is tall, too tall for a cart.  Her arms are long, perfect for carrying loads of groceries.  And, I've given her a brother to boss around love.  Grocery shopping with Rachel is a memorable experience...still...but for entirely different reasons. 

For one, she never quite did master that don't talk to strangers rule.  We were walking around during a recent shopping trip and she stopped a woman with a huge carton of Goldfish in her cart. 

Rachel: Hey, did you know the first ingredient in Goldfish is smiles?

Nice Lady Shopping Alone: Why yes I did!

(Don't believe us, check the packaging.  Although it doesn't say that on the S'mores ones, which baffles me because fish shaped marshmallows make me smile.)

And we continued on our shopping.  The three of us were laughing, as we so often do, and joking around.  There were people staring.  (Sorry, we don't really mean to make a spectacle of ourselves.  It just kinda happens.)  And I teased the kids.

me: Hey, there's no having fun while grocery shopping!

And that's the one lesson I try to instill in them.  Life should be happy and fun and lived in the moment, which is not to say that we don't plan for the future...we just try to enjoy where we are now.  And we try to make that joy contagious.

Our very last shopping trip...which was more of a pit stop than an actual cart filling extravaganza...could have gotten ugly.  We were picking up a few last minute items that I needed to make fudge for the kids' teachers before the holiday break, including one teacher who hasn't recovered from having Rachel last year.  (I feel mostly responsible since I did give birth to her...so she's on our Christmas goodies list until 2012.)  It was after the holiday concert and Rachel was still in her mandatory $80 floor length gown.  There were only two check outs open and the lines curved around through the store.  People were shifty angrily.  And I had loaded down my children and their gangly arms with the necessities and a few deals I just couldn't pass up.  Keenan was balancing as well as he could, but kept dropping items which made me giggle.  And people were staring at Rachel which, as you might imagine, didn't phase her a bit. 

This brings us to another reason that grocery shopping with my daughter is a memorable event.  She is fearless.  She will say whatever comes to mind without hesitation.  And her thoughts are often seemingly random and undeniably frequent.

Rachel: Why didn't we buy cereal?

me: Because we only came in for fudge ingredients.

(Somehow, despite the obvious evidence to the contrary in both her arms and the precarious stack in Keenan's, I almost managed to say that with a straight face.)

Rachel: But they have really great cereal for breakfast tomorrow.

She jerked her head back and I cast a glance at the items in the woman's arms.

me: They're not having cereal.  They're making Chex Mix.

Rachel: How do you know?

I smirked.  I couldn't help it.  It was too easy.

me: Ask them.

Rachel: Hey, are you making Chex Mix?

Poor Unwitting Stranger Who Became Part of our Schtick: Why, yes I am.

Rachel was amazed.  (Come on, they were holding three different boxes of the cereal and peanuts.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist, or better, a domestic goddess to figure that out.)

And I noticed that people were starting to pay attention and loosen up.  Instead of threatening to erupt in anger, my magical daughter had diffused a tense situation, her equally magical brother performing his balancing act and behaving as her trusty side-kick. 

me: I bet I can do it again.

Rachel: No, let me.

Soon, strangers were joking like friends.  And people who were at the concert were complimenting her performance.  And people who grew up in Charlotte were talking about their high school experience.  And before I knew it, it was our turn to check out.The cashier looked more relaxed and a bit grateful.  People I had never met before were shouting 'goodbye' as we left.  (See, grocery shopping can be fun.) 

Only it wasn't so much last time I went...by myself...since the kids were with their dad.  Though I am learning to enjoy my moments of down time, it also helps me to appreciate how much joy the kids bring to my life.  So, I picked up more fudge supplies.  I want there to be enough goodies in the house for them to fall into happy little sugar comas when they return.  And as I carried the items to the check out, arms overflowing, I wished I had the kids with me.  (And no, not just to help me carry everything.)  Who else would appreciate that on the Nestle Toll House Morsel bag it has a notch and directions: Tear here for happy memories?

Oh, and follow those directions...I will. 

This is an original post for Deep South Moms.

When she's not studying the creative packaging at the grocery store and trying to reign in her exuberant kids, Nicki blogs on Suddenly Single Journey.

Photo courtesy of Ana Garza.