Friday, April 25, 2008

fountain grocery check-out lane of youth

After a 45 minute trip through the grocery store with all three of my children, I had just about had it! Ella and Britten were crawling all over the cart, running down aisles, and had their hands all over everything. Chloe started getting fussy towards the end and wanted out of her car seat. I intended to bring the baby carrier with me in the store, but decided against it last minute. Why is hindsight always 20/20?

By the time I pushed the cart into the check-out lane, I was a frazzled mess. My hair was all over the place, I hadn't showered in a couple of days and I was wearing my work-out clothes from my earlier run. Did I mention I was a mess?

As I was rounding up the troops and packing my groceries, the gal that checked my groceries said:

"You don't look old enough to be the mother of these children. In fact, you look like you could pass for their age!"

(Hmmmm....4 years old, 2 years old and 5 months old....)

"Really?!" I asked, a little caught off guard. "Wow. I guess it'd be nice to be 4 for a day again!"

Check-out gal: "Okay, maybe not young enough to be 4, but you could certainly pass for their sister!"

That makes a little more sense, but there's still a 24 year age gap between me and Ella! But I'd take the comment for what it was worth and consider it a refreshing compliment!

Thank you, check-out gal, for making my grocery shopping experience a little brighter!

8 comments:

Lisa said...

That is funny. Wish somebody would tell me I look young! I think my 4 1/2 year old has given me too many wrinkles and gray hairs. Thanks for your post about your daughter breaking doors. That makes me feel so much better :-) Sometimes I feel like I am the only one with a child that gets out of control. I hope he gets better as he gets closer to 5 too.

Mamaskills said...

I remember getting that too! "Is he yours" they would say looking at me like, "crazy teenage girl". I remember always wanting to say I'm 26 not 16! Then on my trip to Belgium I had a nice conversation with a couple my parents age who thought I was a teenager - I'm like - seriously, half my age. I keep hearing someday I'll appreciate it so I'll just pass that word of advice on to you :)

Kim said...

Equally fabulous post, compared to the others. I was thinking thath same thing about the age of your kiddos, but what a nice compliment!

That must mean you will look young FOREVER! :)

Kim said...

I only get the question "is he yours?" b/c look at my features, and then there is my chiold who dons (sp?) blonde hair, & green eyes

nealy said...

Wow, that's impressive...good thing you didn't try to buy alcohol! I don't think she would have believed you were over 21! =)

Jenny said...

I'm remembering a time in the grocery store when I gave the line to one of my kids, "If you do that one more time, I am going to leave this cart right in the store and we're going home". And of course, one minute later she did it again, and I actually left a cart with 20 things at the front of the store and I left.

I think it was more painful for me than for her... I had to go back and start over.

I think I looked 50 years old that day, though... not 15 :)

sarah said...

what a compliment!!

so you had just finished a run...

but .. have you gone back to FIT?

Kristi said...

I wonder which child in particular she was talking about? Chloe?? :-) Pretty good to pass for a 6 month old!! Too funny!

Pat and I got that a lot when we first had Mackenzie (that we looked like a couple of teenagers). However, the three kids must have AGED me...I don't get that as often anymore!!! :-) The 30s must be catching up with me!

Oh...grocery shopping with three kids...not one of my favorite things to do!!! I know the frazzled feeling of "JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE"!!! :-)