Grocery Store Chronicles

The Grocery Store Chronicles

To most people it is merely a mundane place to visit periodically and buy food. To a mother of small children, the grocery store is a scary and foreboding place. Danger lurks around every aisle, not to mention public humiliation. Let me tell you about one such shopping trip that I didn’t soon forget. .

Logan was sound asleep in his infant seat as all good babies should be when Mom is grocery shopping. Isaac was 4 ½ and Caleb was 2 ½. All started out seemingly well. They each sat in the little racecar carts at Shaws (Hey…by the way best invention in the world in my opinion!) drawing with their portable etch-a- sketches.

The produce aisle was uneventful. There were admiring glances from other shoppers over my precious sleeping baby. I tried to soak it all in and imagine this tranquility could possibly last for 30 more minutes. But I had been shopping with my crew too many times. I was taking bets that by aisle 9 it would all start coming undone. I have left a grocery store more than once to correct behavior problems. However, then you are left with the stark reality…still no groceries and you have to go back!

We arrived at the deli…also known as “Bribery Stop #1” because they always give the kids a free slice of cheese. I placed my order after breaking up a small skirmish between the 2 oldest as to who would hold the deli number. Moments later as I turned away, I heard the distinct sound of a child wretching. A second distinct voice saying, “Oh Caleb that’s gross”, immediately followed this.

For a nanosecond I considered not turning around and claiming responsibility. I thought I might be able to make a break for the seafood department and hide my face in some of those plastic bibs they give away when you buy lobsters. I could feel all the eyes of everyone who mingled around the deli piercing through me, as if saying, “What kind of terrible mother brings her sick child to the grocery store!” I considered diverting the attention away by announcing “WHAT KIND OF CHEESE ARE YOU FEEDING THESE POOR CHILDREN!” But in the end, my maternal instincts kicked in, I summoned the clerk for a roll of paper towels and promptly went to the bathroom and got everyone cleaned up.

Motherhood has taught me to be prepared for every contingency. That is why you see mother’s carrying around diaper bags with 50 pounds of gear. I changed Caleb’s clothes, got him cleaned up and had the cart totally disinfected with antibacterial baby wipes. I considered just leaving and going home. But now I had a sick child on my hands and I would need even more provisions. I couldn’t wait all day until my husband arrived home from work. I glanced at my list and decided on some bare essentials, and went back out into the grocery jungle to brave the terrain. Caleb held an empty deli salad container pathetically near his face in case there was a Round 2. Isaac had elected to walk next to me, barring any other unforeseen expulsion of body fluids from his brother.

I moved quickly up and down the aisles to get all the essentials for a sick child: juice, soup, Pedialyte, saltine crackers and Popsicles. All the while I was coaxing Isaac to keep up and not to touch anything. I comforted Caleb, “We’re almost done honey, hang in there”. I tried to ignore glares from passersby who had no idea of the circumstances I found myself in. Suddenly, a kindly old gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me Ma’am, but your baby can’t breathe!” I turned around in a gasp; Baby Logan had awakened and pulled his sun hat over his face. He was struggling to pull it off. I lifted the hat and there sat a cooing and smiling baby, almost as if he was playing peek-a-boo. “Great!” I thought, “Not only did I bring a sick kid into the store, but I had to be told by a stranger my baby needed me!”

By now I was feeling like an utterly exhausted failure. Somehow I made it through the checkout and started for home. As we passed the ice cream shop Caleb was teasing for a cone. It was the miraculous “Soft-serve cure.” Almost as quickly as it had begun, it ended. Everyone was back to their pre-grocery status, except me.

As everyone napped in the afternoon, I told my cousin and dear friend Willow about all the excitement. She could hardly contain her laughter. Suddenly all the embarrassment and inadequacy I felt earlier didn’t matter… Hey, this was the stuff of life. Sometimes as parents we are too deeply affected by other’s perceptions. We forget to Whom we are ultimately responsible for our children’s care. When all is said and done we will not be answering to some lady at the grocery store. Some days are better than others. But if you’re blessed you can put your head on your pillow each night praying tomorrow you’ll do the best job you can. And if you’re doubly blessed, some days you can make it all the way to the Bakery (Bribery Stop #2) for the free cookie with kids in tow, and they really will deserve it.


Kimberly Mihelich