Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Living Parallel Lives

The kids and I went to Costco tonight for dinner (what? you expect me to cook every night Brian is gone?!)...yummy, cheap, greasy pizza and hot dogs - and best of all, no clean up for me! As we were sitting under the table with the umbrella (thankfully it was unoccupied so I didn't have to try to convince McKenzie that umbrella tables are not all that cool...come to think of it, why does Costco have umbrella tables set up indoors, anyway?), we heard this loud, unfamiliar sound fill up the whole warehouse. I lifted my head to see what in the world was going on, and noticed that everyone else was either looking around as well, or staring out the front doors. I turned around in my seat to glance outside and saw sheets of rain dumping from the sky...seriously, more rain than I have seen for about 4 years here! The tin roof covering Costco was taking a beating, hence the noise. We tried to wait it out, but it just kept getting later and later, so finally we packed up and headed out the doors. I stopped just outside the doors, underneath the awning, and yelled over the sound of the rain to my kids, "WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO GET WET!!!" Kenz was less than thrilled...
I looked to my left and noticed another young mom with two kids watching me with a smile. I gave her a smile back and she yelled, 'HEY! I HAVE AN IDEA! Do you want me to stay here with your kids while you go and get your car, then you stay here with the kids while I go get mine?" Fantastic idea! I thought.
After the switch, she pulled her car up, jumped out, and I started pushing the carts to our cars. It was then that I noticed we each had one, single item in our carts: baby wipes. For some reason, this struck me as so funny, I had to point it out to her, and we both buckled in laughter. "We're just living parallel lives!" she yelled.

Well, I needed that tonight. I needed to buckle in laughter, and I needed to share it with a friendly face. So, to Shannon at Costco, THANKS for a great idea, and a kind smile. :) I'm glad our parallel lives crossed for a moment!

7 comments:

  1. What a neat thing to have happen. It always nice to know that you are not alone in life. Having Josh gone alot is so hard, and there are somedays I want to just cry. But I always just try to remember that somewhere, someone is doing the samething. :)

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  2. That's a such a great story.. Thanks for reminding me that I'm not alone. :)

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  3. A very similar thing happened to me very soon after we moved to NC. I was at Walmart and tried to wait it out. I miss the RAIN!!! What a fun story. Thanks.

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  4. I LOVE Costco dinners! Where else can you get massive sized portions to feed the entire family for well under $10 (and that's with a family of 5 eating people).

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  5. Brady and I go on "Costco dates" and get hot dogs. I really think Costco is the icon of America--hot dogs and pizza to eat, and everything in the store is in bulk and super-sized, just how we like it...

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  6. I love that, especially the uncontrolled laughter, everyone needs a dose of that every now and then :)

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  7. It's nice that there are people out there that have needs as great as ours. And people who are willing to help! What a cute story.

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