I remember that ol' frio river...

It's that time of year again folks--the time where seemingly educated, successful people decide that despite the fact there is a state wide drought and despite the fact there is a burn ban which means no campfires, and despite the fact that the river is the lowest it has been in years--a real butt bumper, we are going camping.

So that leaves us with the inevitable camping wind-up, a trip to the grocery store and packing the van. And cleaning the house. Lord knows what would happen if we left for vacation and the house was messy. Anyway, H came home early and suggested that we all go to the grocery store. So we went. All four of us. And it was a pretty typical trip. You start out with two contented children, both in the cart. Then one gets fussy and wants out because we went right around the time she likes a nice, 8 ounce bottle. And the other kid, seeing that the first one is all cuddled up in her mother's arms in lieu of the bottle, wants out of the cart. This causes the other kid to want to show us everything that is marketed for kids. "papa, I neeeeeed to show you something...." This causes her father to start to get grumpy and mutter under his breath that he should have gone by himself. This causes me to remind him that this family grocery trip was his idea. Couple of tantrums ensue when papa opts not to see the disney merchandised product. Mama heads over to check it out and finds out it is a "fruit snack" which contains no fruit, and yet magically has vitamins. But because we are going camping, and because H got beer for himself, I tell her she can have the "fruit snack" because I am cool like that. We need deli meat and we get the older guy with the W.C. Fields nose who goes super slow, during which Annabelle's shoes laces (re: curling ribbon which she has attached to her non-shoe lace shoes to make them "pretty") come untied and she comes unglued because it is supper time, she has been at school all day and now she is at the Bunker Hill HEB instead of watching the wonder pets at home while I fix dinner. We go and get the produce and H walks around to get some tomatoes while I get cilantro and Annabelle announces she needs to go to the potty really bad, and it is an emergency. I ask if she can wait until Papa comes back so he can hold Tallulah and she says no, she is going to pee in her pants. So the three of us run to the bathroom. Of course she stops to get a balloon. And then she trips on her "shoe laces" and has a minor crying fit, which is totally understandable. And then she wants to return the balloon, but it is still a potty emergency. We are successful in our bathroom endeavors and head out into the store only to find H checking out. "I can't take it anymore. I don't care if we are missing stuff. This is too much for me. This is what you do, this is your job, but I can't take it anymore." And that is when I realize, he has never been to the grocery store with both girls. He usually goes by himself, because he doesn't like how I dawdle. And I start to laugh. I laugh and laugh and laugh some more. The check out lady and bag boys are laughing with us. I laugh as I go to get a coke from the deli, I laugh as we head out to the car. I laugh as we load the groceries and laugh as we drive home.

Just a typical grocery store trip. For me anyway, not for him.

I am currently smiling.