Today was ...for lack of a better word, crazy. I brought all 3 kids to Wal-mart, all by myself. It started out how any bad trip to the store does, the kids start fighting. All of the arguing sends Analise into a full on arching her back, flailing screaming tantrum. I go through 3 isles this way before I go to the produce section, grab a bag of grapes and starting giving each child a hand full. This calms them immediately while an older lady smiles at me and says, "I use to do the same thing! You have beautiful daughters." I smiled politely and thanked her.
We continue on now that we have grapes in our mouths. We make it through one isle before all of the grapes are gone, and dispite the fact that my oldest was suppose to be sharing and distributing the grapes to her sisters, she was eating them all to herself. Well, naturally this irritated me. I had to seperate out more grapes while Adison threw them on the floor and started screaming, followed by smashing the bread. And then it stops. She likes how the bread feels being squished...so every time I turn around I have to remove her hand from the bread and try to find somewhere else that she can not reach it, which also triggers crying. I have many people who feel sorry for me and smile at me, or try to offer tips to calm my screaming children, like I haven't already tried it all.
We finally survived the shopping portion of the store, and are in the check out, when I realize I forgot my debit card in the car....and our cart is already full of groceries. This means I have to take all the kids off of the cart, and carry them while running to get my card. Well, we survive that as well. Unfortunately our cashier is like in his 80's, and moves at less than a mile per hour....cue the screaming. After getting my $200 dollar total...for the "real quick" trip that I was suppose to make. Everything starts to fall of the top of the heaving cart and I'm about to cry. I get half way to the door and notice the lady who had spoken to me earlier walking up to me.
She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Honey, we have all been there." She told me that she and her husband would like to help me out to the car. He grabs the cart and starts pushing, not really giving me much of a choice. I didn't worry too much since he was wearing a Veterans hat. He wouldn't let me grab any of the groceries myself and his wife helped me get the kids in the car. She gave me a hug before leaving and told me to be careful, they wished the twins a happy birthday and took my cart back.
This wasn't something she and her husband had to do, but they most definitely went out of their way to do it. I have no idea how long they were standing near the check out waiting for me to walk by, but it couldn't have been a short amount of time. I don't think I could have conveyed to them how much I appreciated their help in that moment. But they helped a stressed out Mom on the verge of tears to her car, and they didn't ask for anything in return. I don't know if they could see the break down that was coming, or the crazy in my eyes, but I'm so glad they were there not just to show me that there is still good left in this world, but to show my kids. Who knew there are still good people in Muncie, Indiana, the town with a climbing crime rate and dropping employment. I do not not know your names, but thank you for your act of kindness, and Sir, thank you for your service to our country!
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