15 minutes at Meijer

I stopped by Meijer on the way home form work yesterday just for a few things. Like my mother, I can spend hours in a grocery store. I have never had this many oddball things happen to me during a grocery trip. I was only there for maybe 15 minutes.

A car backs out, not seeing me walking and slams his brakes on. He sees me as I smile and stop, tell him to go ahead. No cars coming. Rarity. He looks annoyed by my kind gesture and leaves.

I walk in and I'm given a cart by nice elderly gentleman who greets me with a smile and hello that I return in the same manner.

I make my way up the main aisle and encounter two welfare teen moms (or one with all three). They are almost blocking the aisle, but I could get around. The little bastard in the "car shopping cart" opens his door so I can't pass and smiles at me. I smile back as the two moms pay absolutely no attention. I say to the child sweetly, "Is this a Toll Road? Do I have to pay a Toll?" and smile because I am joking with the kid who is also smiling. As he lets me pass, the one on the phone turns to me and says, "WHAT?" I quickly explain, laughing to show it was funny - me and the kid shared a joke. She looked at me and said slowly - "Uh Huh...."and turns her back to me. I took a deep breath and kept on.

After getting beer and pop, I head to buy frozen pizza. My favorite teens are there - at the end of the aisle with the big "car cart" slowly coming my way this time. I leave my cart smack in the middle of the aisle. I am leaning into the freezer case picking out Wolfgang Puck pizzas on sale for 3.99 each. They were out of the 4 cheese and tomato. At that moment, I stood up and said out loud to myself, "Ain't that about a bitch!" as the teens try to pass my cart. I looked over. "Oh, is my cart in your way?" I'd give my right arm for a picture of this moment - the looks on their faces.

I make it to the register and after my transaction go to walk away. The woman who was in line behind me yells to me, "Ma'am! Your wallet!" Yes. Of course. That's me. Anything to make life frustrating. Lucky for me, she was kind enough to ensure I got it.

On my way to my car, I come up on a very elderly lady who left her cart about 6 feet from her car while she opened her trunk. As I walk by, I grabbed her cart (which had begun to roll very quickly toward her car) and slowed it to a stop, resting it gently on her bumper. She looked very surprised then the warmest smile came over her face. She said, "Thank you so much. That was very kind of you."

As I walked thru the the next two lanes of cars with my cart toward my car, a woman ran up to me. She said, "Ma'am, I am so sorry to bother you, but I'm from Batavia and ran out of gas in the parking lot here. Would you mind just sparing a dollar? I'm trying to get a few bucks just to get enough gas from that Sam's gas station to get home" I never carry cash. Ever. I tell her this, but I also tell her I will give her any change I find in my purse, that it spends the same. She agreed and thanked me repeatedly as I dug thru my purse, pulling out random sets of coins and depositing them into her hand. She said thank you so much - there aren't that many nice people left anymore. I agreed with her and told her I wish I had more to give her. She said not to apologize and left with the expected "God Bless you".

I sat in my car and took it all in. Baffled, I drove home as carefully as I could.