Skip to main content

Thankful

Earlier in the week, I was grumbling to Chet about money and budgeting and more bills this month than income and no money at Christmas every year and go find a bag of money and your dumb car and sell your guns and... He reminded me that we don't really have it that bad. I wasn't comforted.

I stopped in at Target today (maybe that's why I feel broke; I can't stay away from that place) and wandered through the store trying to remember what two things I came there for in the first place. I got one of the jumbo sized carts and all the kids squeezed into the front seating area. Avery had to stand and spent our shopping trip waving like a princess at all the other shoppers. Tucker and Piper entertained each other by poking each other's noses. I could hear some kids wailing in the background and was thankful they weren't mine.

We approached the checkout and everybody and their mother decided to check out at the same time as us. I could now see the wailing kids we had heard earlier. They were twin boys, about four or five. They had the terrible case of the gimmies at the checkout counter. Their dad was trying to buy their groceries and was continuously interrupted by their tantrums. One boy wanted a Hotwheels car and one boy wanted a bag of Skittles. I could hear him at first trying to tell them "no" quietly but that didn't work. One boy started screaming so loud, even Piper turned her head around to see what the fuss was about.

"Don'tfightdon'tbite!" she yelled in their direction.
"Mom, why are those boys being naughty?" Avery asked.
"Shhhhh." I hushed.

The screaming continued and the dad had had enough.

"Stop it! Now! I don't have money for toys. I don't even have money for this food!"

His plea fell on deaf ears and the screaming continued. The lane next to me opened up and I started loading my diapers, wipes, bagels and butter onto the counter. As I was paying, I could hear the dad asking the cashier why his coupon wouldn't work for the cheese he was buying. She said he had to get a different kind of cheese in order to get the discount. He loaded up his still screaming boys and headed to the cheese aisle.

I left Target thankful for many things. I was thankful that my kids weren't screaming like that in public. I was thankful that I had enough money for my diapers, wipes, bagels and butter. I was thankful that I didn't have to go back to get a different kind of cheese because I didn't have enough money to buy the other kind. As I got into my warm van and drove home, I was thankful that I have a vehicle and a home to go to.

Sometimes it takes someone else's misfortunes to put your own life into perspective.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Real Manly, Chet

It's hard to find the time to blog these days.  I figure once life slows down a bit, I'll start taking more pictures and adding more posts.  But to those I tell that too, they ROFL.  Life doesn't slow down. Chet and I try to squeeze in as many dates as we can, as we hardly even see each other during the week.  Our date on Monday evening started out deciding on a place to eat.  I have to comply with my Weight Watcher's points and Chet is trying to put on weight. So you tell me.  Where do we eat? We ended up getting a Jimmy John's for me (I could eat half) and an Arby's meal for Chet. We were off in search of summer clothes for Chet as his previous summer wardrobe has consisted of clothes he wore to confirmation camp.  In other words, old and out of style.  As I browsed the racks at the store, I noticed something.  Had we just held onto his confo clothes, they would be in style again. His doc warned him that if he didn't start wearing a...
1 comment
Read more

Summer Boredom

Summer boredom is in full-swing for the eldest child of the family.  If I had known it would be this bad, I would have enrolled her in summer school.  I've been laid up with a work injury and have been ordered to take it easy for the rest of my pregnancy so I haven't been the most fun mom to hang around these days.  I mostly give orders from the couch.    My poor children haven't been able to have the summer they had been dreaming of all winter. Like Avery said, "This is the worst summer ever!"    The few days of rain we just had made the ancient wooden door frame of the deck door expand, making the screen door close to impossible to close without slamming it shut.  Avery has been doing most of the slamming as I am mostly incapable of such behavior and one of the times she didn't see Milo on the other side, trying to get in.  His finger got slammed in the door and it swelled to Timbuktu.  Chet brought him into urgent care a few da...
Post a Comment
Read more

Boo-Falo Days

Every year, fireworks come to town on a Friday night.  Since I work every Friday night, I only hear them rattling the windows on my resident's rooms.  Well, sometimes I peek out the blinds and see one or two go off and then reassure my resident that no sir, we are not being bombed.  It's only Buffalo Days fireworks.   We haven't ever been able to bring the kids down to the lake to watch them but who needs to when you can see them from our street corner? Chet let Avery stay up late and he brought her outside to watch them.     And of course, the carnival also comes to town, one block away.  I coughed up $20 bucks on Saturday and treated the older kids to three rides each.  The nice, toothless man allowed Piper to ride for free on this one, as long as I went with her.  And as long as I wouldn't tell anyone.  Oops.  And he said I had to sit in the back because I wouldn't fit in the front. There was a parade o...
Post a Comment
Read more