Shopping is like a Marathon

I have never been much of a shopper. I think if I had a ton of money, I might enjoy it more, but most of the time it seems more of a chore. However, since I have become a stay-at-home mom, it is a break in the routine and so I get excited to get out, just for groceries. The hard part is the two kids and the massive amounts of food we buy, no matter how much I try to limit it to the bare essentials.

So today, I realized grocery shopping is like running a marathon for me. I have never ran a marathon, nor will I ever, but I have heard lots of stories about them. So, I start out and I am excited, I have lots of energy. I put Josh in the cart and Caleb straped to my front in his little Jeep carrier. Everyone thinks they are so cute and are always talking to them and tickling Caleb's toes. It is lots of fun, but after two aisles, I am already working muscles from bending over to get cottage cheese, milk, and diapers with an extra 20 lbs. weight attached to my front. But I look at the shopping list and so little has been checked off, so we keep going. I try to keep a smile on my face while Josh starts saying "go home now" or "buy this too Mama." It goes on like this and I try not to look frazzled and I try to be polite and happy to everyone else in the store.

By the time I get to the bread I think, "I'm just going to stop and go home now." But then I remember all the fruit and veggies that I need to get. So at that point I feel like I have hit the wall and I have to shove myself onward to finish the shopping, to get it done so I don't have to come back for another two weeks. And as I pick out the apples and try to find lettuce that isn't already brown, I keep thinking "3 more things..." "okay, one more thing."

Then when my brain thinks, "just the last stretch now," I realize I still have to pick a line, then load all the mountain of supplies out of cart and onto the table to be scanned and placed in bags, and then from there I have to load them back into the cart trying to not crush bread and tomotoes, not to mention the eggs which I have no idea where they are. And the whole while Caleb is getting completely seasick from me moving from side to side putting things in and out of the cart. Not to mention, I have to strategically place the cart so Josh can't reach any of the side candy which I am secretely hoping he will so I can eat it.

Then when our bank account is significantly decreased, I must push the merry crew and baggage to the van, load that up and buckle the kids in and wait 10 minutes so the lovely lady that has happened to park directly behind me can chat away with her friend while Josh says repeatedly "go get Daddy!" So I try to breath in deeply on the 15 minute drive home, focus on the road and at last pull into our little driveway. That is when I notice it is very quiet.

Suddenly, I don't really care how hard grocery shopping is. Crossing the finish line was all worth it.