What Mom Is Really Doing When She's Grocery Shopping
Grocery shopping has always been cathartic for me. I have three kids under 6 years old so alone time isn't always a reality. In fact, they're always there. Everywhere I turn I have kids telling me about Minecraft, asking for snacks, or tattling on their brothers.Grocery shopping is my time.Mine.Over the last few weeks, I started leaving the kids at home when I go and it's been heavenly! I stop by Starbucks for a quick drink, then head to the store. I have a list in my purse, but that doesn't stop me from going down every single aisle. That's right, all of them. Even the ones I know I won't be getting anything from. It's not the point.The point is to stay at the store as long as humanly possible. Every stolen moment is a moment my husband gets to appreciate me a little more. I know he understands how much I do, but there's nothing like leaving him with three wild children to appreciate me a little more. It doesn't take long for the texts to start.Babe, how much longer?Where is the disinfectant? Levi peed all over the bathroom floor.Are you almost done?If I have to hear another word about Minecraft.....SOS.They're like little love notes from him while I'm away. They definitely don't entice me to come home any sooner. I've been there, done that.Every day while he's off working, I'm dealing with all three wild children. I'm daily trying to convince my four-year-old to pee in the toilet instead of the floor, seat, or bathroom garbage (real story!). I wake up every day to my 5-year-old asking, "Mom, can I tell you all about Minecraft?" I'm constantly making snacks for the never ending belly of a 2-year-old baby, who camps out by the fridge.I know the pain he's experiencing while I'm away. That's where the cathartic feeling comes from. Knowing full well that I'm helping him to walk an hour in my shoes...my high heel stilettos that look gorgeous, but feel like complete hell to wear.
This is why moms take so long at the grocery store.
Pay back.It's all about pay back ladies and gentlemen. Don't bother texting, it just fuels us to stay out longer.I change my name while I'm grocery shopping. Mom is no longer what I go by. I look around at the other moms shopping with their kids and laugh. I sprint away with my Starbucks in hand and a hysterical laughter erupts.It doesn't matter that the number of grocery trips I take each week is increasing because they all need to eat. It's one thing they won't fight because I soothe their pain by bringing them all back food.One day, our kids will get big enough to watch themselves and I'll let my husband join me on my grocery shopping adventure. Then we'll laugh together at the texts from our kids, asking us when we'll get home. We'll skip down the aisles together with the coffee in hand, although at that point I'm sure we'll have upgraded to alcoholic beverages.But for now, it's just me. My grocery trips are a solitary adventure that I have no intention of cutting short anytime soon.