The Presence

I interrupt the previously precious post about the miracle of birth and the beauty of a crying child to complain about my trip to the grocery store with 4 kids.

Sorry in advance.

Most grocery stores were not made to support people shopping in groups of 5.  We go at least twice a week and then once a week to Sam's.  These people love to eat.

Mostly we receive sweet smiles and long stares and the occasional, "You've got your hands full."  Or "You've got a lot of help."  There is a non-stop dialogue between this group of 5 that sounds like:

Child: OOOhhhh, Mom, can we get these?

Mom:  No, we're already spending enough money.

Very loud child:  Nooo!!! I want to stand on that side of the cart!

Child smooshes onto that side of the cart with another child.  Cart starts tipping.

Another loud child:  *cry. cry. cry* I want to sit in the cart seat!

Whispering, hissing Mom:  Guys, we are being very rude to everyone around us.  Do you hear anyone else yelling?  Are all the other shoppers crying at each other?  It's just not the thing to do.  We need to be considerate to each other and to the people around us.

bla, bla, bla...not sure if they're actually hearing me.

Riley, self-consious and embarrassed, walks like a soldier and whispers encouragement to her younger siblings to stop dancing with their produce bags.

After 30 minutes of that.  We make it to the check-out line, where there are helpless bystanders, who cannot escape this tumbling, tripping, squawking, begging, singing crowd of 5.

By the time it's our turn to load our groceries, all the niceties have been said e.g. "you've got your hands full." etc.  etc. etc.  Then their smiles fade as they realize they can't walk away yet, because we all have to pay before we leave.

Everyone wants to load their favorite grocery item onto the conveyer belt.  There is a noisy argument over the triscuits.

Kate steps on a ladies toes in the line beside us.  I apologize to her, but she ignores me and scoots as far away from as us as she can.  I feel sooooo bad!  Someone hug me!

Do I want paper or plastic?  Uh, yes.  My brain has exploded.  I don't know.  Choose your favorite one.

I've told Lola we are not getting mints or gum because she has thrown a fit for them.  So that fit gets a bit bigger.  The crying is pretty loud.  The bagger is stressed and bagging as fast as he can.  I feel like hugging him.

Finally we are leaving.  I say, "Thank you." and "I'm sorry." And look for a hug.  No one's arms are extended, so we leave.

We are pushing our cart through the parking lot.  3 kids are actually attached to the cart so it's pretty heavy.  The parking lot is a downhill slope to the van.  Lola decides to jump off  mid-ride.  I run over her foot.  What was fussy crying turns to the true-pain-cry.  I kiss the foot, but it's pretty bad. :(
Lola will hug me.

I'm sure the people in the store can hear us even as we pull out of the parking lot.

We are such a presence everywhere we go.  It's a bit exhausting, being this huge presence.  I've asked the girls if we could tone down our presence.

But I tell myself I'll be depressed when The Presence has grown up and left me to shop by myself.  So I try to smile through it and get a hug whenever I can.