Unspoken Bond

My daughter had been wearing the same diaper for almost 6 hours. Since it was my "emergency diaper" for the car, and no other diaper remained in a 3 mile radius, I decided it was time to go to the store.

I loaded up my three kids, including 6 socks, 3 jackets and 3 pairs of shoes, and headed to the grocery store. Once there we loaded everyone into one of those giant brightly colored shopping carts for Nanny Deprived moms. You know the ones. The big unstreamlined race cars that really need 6 wheels. They are always wobbly and have some kind of nasty bird poop or stain of some kind on the seats. They are impossible to turn and never fit down the isles quite right. And of course, every kid NEEDS to ride in them.

My personal circus and I headed in the store. Once inside we almost ran into another mom pushing the gigantic shopping cart too. She had a baby strapped to her in a Baby Bjorn and painstakingly tried to back up and navigate past an end cap to move out of our way. All I could do was laugh. She and I looked at each other and knew exactly what hell was. It was so strange to connect so instantly with someone.

Apon passing she asked me if things get easier. My youngest was probably a year older than the 3 month old strapped to her. I smiled and just shook my head. I apologized and said, "I hate to tell you this, but no."

We both continued on through the store, making faces at the babies and yelling bribes at the older kids while trying as best we could to navigate our hugantic carts through the over crowded isles. Sometimes it's nice and refreshing to see someone else in the same giant brightly colored boat I'm in.