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We’ve All Been There…

Quick post…

I was in line at the grocery store this evening. In front of me was a cute family of four: Mom, Dad, boy, girl.  Dad paid and pushed the cart, with the little girl riding inside.  Off to the side, Mom was crouched down, consoling her little boy. All I heard her say was this, and it was enough:

“Honey, Daddy wouldn’t use words like that, if you wouldn’t hit him with the cart.”
Truer words were never spoken.  When one of the FOMLs ever took over cart-steering, I would inevitably wander away. I knew that if I lost my focus – even for a moment – my achilles tendon would pay the price. I may have danced a bit, but never cussed. Out loud.
Mind you, I was well aware of the potential danger of shopping carts prior to bringing children into this world. You can learn a lot in college.

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Comments

  1. It never occured to me to ride down that ramp in a shopping cart when I was there either. …Probably because I valued my life and the bone structure in my face so much. 🙂 Boys do crazy things.

  2. Ha, ha! I’m actually quite sad that I never thought of mixing that ramp with shopping carts while at BYU (or at least that I didn’t get to see other people doing it). I’m pretty sure we thought of everything else!

  3. The ramp at BYU in a shopping cart!?? I can’t believe you weren’t busted.

    I have 4 kids and have had my fair share of bonks. My favorite make believe cuss? Kraznots!!

  4. I’m pretty sure that going down that street in a shopping cart makes you one of the coolest people ever.

  5. I am pleasantly surprised and impressed when grocery shopping during the busy times with all the other 8-5ers at all the families I see HAPPILY and patiently shopping together. I know the parents are as tired as I am, but usually they seem to be making the best of doing a necessary chore and spending time with their children. It makes me smile and gives me hope for our world.

  6. I am just the mean mom who doesn’t let her kids push the cart (they are still kind of small anyway). No hurt achilles for me. Even better, I just leave the kids at home when I grocery shop. That way I don’t have to deal with the “can I have” issue the whole walk through the store.

  7. this reminded me of a fun date night I had about 20 years ago. We were all playing a game called Sniglets. I don’t remember much from the actual game, but after we were done, we sat around making up words (and the corresponding definition), and two of them were SO PERFECT (in my humble opinion) that they have stuck with me all these years.

    comalumination – the trance like state caused by staring too long at the Christmas tree lights

    and
    (the one that was a triggered memory by your post)

    cartachillaphobia – the paralyzing fear that overcomes a shopper as they hear the shopping cart coming up behind them and they know it is aimed straight for the Achilles.

    and in case anyone in interested – the following taken from Amazon.com: A sniglet is defined as a “word that should be in the dictionary, but isn’t”. While Rich Hall invented the word “sniglet” itself, sniglets are actually a long-running popular joke in which people make up their own humorous words to describe things or concepts that have no “official” words. The Game of Sniglets involves creating new sniglets, in addition to trying to guess the “true sniglet”. In the “Playing Instructions,” there are ideas on “How to Create a Sniglet”; such as, 1) combination (blend), 2) spelling change (altering a word related to the definition), 3) pure nonsense word, or 4) a “take-off on a well known product” (a spelling change to a trademark).

  8. This makes me kinda sad. With 8 younger brothers, I have experienced my fair share of tendon benders, but hearing your dad swear, especially if it was after something YOU did, really hurts. And it keeps hurting long after his Achilles stops throbbing.

    ps. Are you implying that you rode down that ramp in a shopping cart?

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