a funny story

I’ve had a couple of emails from people wondering if everything is okay.  (It is.  Too much to do, not enough time to finish it all.)  Apparently, after posting for 30 straight days, I’ve set some sort of precedent that I am now failing to meet!  :)  So Teresa…this is for you.

Pati is my next door neighbor.  She’s a great gal.  A mom of 2 grown sons, she adores our little guys and often brings them special treats left over from her job (she’s a flight attendant).  The boys, in turn, adore her and can’t wait to spend time helping her in the yard or just visiting.  It’s a perfect match.  Pati’s folks are getting older and they aren’t driving any more, so she’s spending more and more time chauffeuring them to the doctor and the store.  Monday night, she shared this gem:

“I’d picked up Mom and Dad, and we headed into town for their doctor visits.  Took hours.  I needed to stop at Costco, but I took them home first because I wanted to whip through the store and they don’t ‘whip’ anywhere these days.  When I got to Costco, I ended up behind the slowest old lady I have EVER seen.  I was behind her every single aisle!  Just couldn’t get around her at all.  And of course, it was ‘sample time’ at the store, and she had to stop at EVERY SINGLE TABLE to have a bite.  Couldn’t park her cart out of the way, of course.  Finally, I’d had it.  We were nearly to the end of the store, and once again there was a sample table in front of us.  She parked her cart crosswise in the aisle and proceeded to head toward the food.  “Excuse me.  EXCUSE ME!” I called.  No response.  I took a deep breath, parked my cart off to the side, and grabbed hers.  I pushed it down the aisle, around the corner, and into the dairy cold room.  Came back, grabbed my cart, and finished my shopping.  At a much more reasonable pace.”

We nearly died laughing!  I’ve known Pati for over 17 years, and I have a hard time seeing her doing this.  But, I understand the frustration of walking behind shoppers out for a leisurely afternoon.  C’mon people!  Some of us have better things to do than move at a snail’s pace all afternoon.  I don’t have any problem working around you and I am not bothered in the least by your pace, but please—stay to the right!  My poor boys hear that many times each trip to the store.  So often, in fact, that now they ask, '”Hey Mom? Why are those guys not keeping right when they shop?”  Heh.  Out of the mouths of babes…

(And a humorous aside.  As I said, we’ve lived next door to Pati for over 17 years.  Standing in the street facing our houses, Pati’s house is on the right, mine is on the left.  My parents live about 15 miles away.  They’ve lived there for probably 10 years.  I’m not really sure.  Anyway, at least 6 years ago they got new neighbors.  We all laughed when it happened, because the couple who moved in to the house on the right of them?  Yep.  Pati’s mom and dad.  So now, our children can visit Grammy and Papa (my parents) and Grandma Kay and Grandpa Harold (Pati’s parents) all at the same time.  It’s fun.)