#71 Wal-Mart

I am a somewhat haphazard packer. Apparently it is difficult for me to envision the different situations we might encounter when away from the house, and what we might need for them. Who could predict that a baby might need a nap and I might want a baby monitor for such occasion? Who would think that my children might actually want bathing suits for Grandma and Grandpa’s hot tub? In my defense, I don’t think I made the same packing omission twice, but I usually make an omission glaring enough to require a trip to Wal-Mart.

At heart I am a Target girl, but when we visit my parents there isn’t one convenient to us so we are forced to go to Wal-Mart. Over the years our annual trip has become as much of a Thanksgiving ritual as turkey or over-eating. Usually it’s my husband, me, Eric and my Uncle, and by the time we actually make the trek we have a list at least half an arm long of things we forgot, just decided we need, or my mother forgot to buy at the grocery store. Of course, once there it usually takes us 4 times as long as it should to get everything on the list because we spend so much time gawking. We laugh at the as-seen-on-TV products that we never thought anyone would buy. And sometimes we decide maybe we should try them out after all. We inevitably find some amazing gadget that we just have to have, or something that is just too cheap to pass up. (An umbrella stroller for $10!!!) But most of all, we stare at the other shoppers. The mix of people at Wal-Mart is incredible. There are those who come in their pajamas, and those who seem to be missing half of their clothes--usually the half that would cover the parts that I don’t want to see.

We spend a lot of time giggling and acting in very immature ways and just having a ball. So much so, that before this past Thanksgiving, the first one that Eric was going to bring his girlfriend to, we built it up as something to look forward to, not just something we might do if we forgot something. Only last year I didn’t forget anything. Miracle of miracles I actually managed to pack everything we needed. We didn’t make our annual trip.

On the last day of the holiday weekend, Eric and his girlfriend did go to fill a prescription, but they went alone. I can only hope that they found some amusement in the trip.

For those of you who have never experienced the humor in a trip to Wal-Mart I leave you with a website introduced to me by Eric. Don’t go there if you are not prepared to laugh and be a little disgusted all at the same time. www.peopleofwalmart.com

Our trips won’t be the same without him, but I’ll always remember him when I’m there.