Don’t you just love how mothers like to repeat things to you a thousand times. Such as my mom telling me to always put the baby in the car before emptying the grocery bags out of the cart. At Trader Joe’s the other day, (the one where my blogger friend Katie saw me once but was too afraid to actually come up and say hi. Yes, the very same one who has the hot daughters that I am going to marry Mr Pants off too. But, because he’s not going on a Mormon mission, he either has two options, corrupt her daughters (hehehe), or convert (fat chance (miracles can happen).) So, at the Joe’s the other day I heard my moms voice in my head as I was about to empty the bags into my car while Mr Pants was sitting in the cart. Of course, my car was on a downhill angle and it was uphill from us, so I decided to toss him in the car first. But I’m very conscious of those sort of things anyway.
Just after I finished loading the bags in the car and I was walking to the drivers door I noticed a young mom was walking around to the back of her car, with a two year old in the cart. And on the same incline I decided not to unload on while Mr Pants was in the cart. She stopped at the rear door, let go of the cart with her kid in it, grabbed two bags out of the cart and turned to put them in the car. As I shook my head at her carelessness I went to get in and Mr Pants flung the door open and nearly fell out. I caught him just in time. It would have been a bad fall too because my truck is lifted. Just another daily tragedy avoided.
Just as I was backing out of my spot I looked to my left to check for cars. Wouldn’t you know it, but the cart, and her kid was flying across the parking lot. Just as I saw this, the mom was turning around from unloading another bag, and a Trader Joe‘s employee was letting go of his train of carts to go rescue the child. My heart skipped a beat.
Initially I thought: Must save kid. No time to apply brakes and slow down, must shove car into park from reverse, stopping instantly so I can jump out like superman, do a flying leap fifty feet across the parking lot and be the hero of the day. But the other side of my brain thought: Shit, slamming car into park could easily shatter my gears going this fast in reverse (I’ve seen my friend do it). Then I thought: well if I could save a 2 year old from bashing her head on the cement after falling out of a shopping cart, I suppose spending a thousand bucks to fix my transmission would be worth it. But then I re-thought that idea in an instant and thought: If my transmission broke and I didn’t reach the kid before the TJ’s employee did, then it totally would not be worth it. So I just braked and watched the potential fatal scene unfold itself before me. Hey, a thousand bucks can buy two surf boards and a wetsuit. And that all went down in my brain in an instant.
The employees train of shopping carts ended up smashing into a parked car, and he reached the little girl in the cart just as she was reaching mach 1. I had my mom call the woman and scold her for not putting the child in the car first. And my transmission is still intact. I sure would have liked to of been the hero though. Hopefully, if fate is on my side, I wll come across another potential horrific child-shopping cart-bad parenting scene and save the day, or something similar.
Thursday, March 4
Runaway Shopping Cart
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7 commentary:
I had the cart go off on me once with my son when he was little. But thankfully I live in Florida and he rolled up at a slow pace that I was able to just walk and catch up with him shortly. Boy did I learn my lesson though and be thankful for minimal inclines.
Bet the girl had a blast.
Your mom said, "I told you so." Didn't she??? :)
Florida is flat? Well, there's always gators lurking round the corner right. If it's not one danger, it's another.
Yeah DC, she seemed completely oblivous to the dangers around her.
You think I would actually give her the opportunity to rub it in my face by telling her. Well, she did say it in my subconscious...so yes, she did.
Ha! That just happened to me the other day at that same exact Trader Joe's! I never could decide whether it was safer to put them in the car first or not. I mean, aren't you not supposed to leave a child unattended in a car? And I always want to be the responsible patron who returns the cart to the cart place (does that even have a name?).
Anyway, I would be honored to have your darling boy as my son-in-law. My Lucy would definitely be worth joining the church for! Ha. Next time I see you around I will so say hi for sure.
I let my daughter stand in the cart once, just once, and I hit a bump and she fell over and landed on head. Really explains a lot about her.
Excellent retelling! We've all had accidents I guess, but parking lot ones are particularly scary. The picture of a kid either getting run over or careening out of control in a shopping cart is too much for me to take any chances on. I'm with you, I always pay close attention in parking lots and while managing groceries and kids.
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