I Was a Basket(less) Case

I did something today that I haven't done in six years.  I've known the time was coming; and, while that maybe should have just purely excited me, I've instead had mixed feelings at the thought of its approach.  To say the least, today proved that those mixed feelings were well founded.  That's right.... Shopping without a stroller is kinda nice.  And then again, it's kinda not....

Think back, fellow moms, to when your first child came along.  The only way you could get out of the house with your precious new baby was to take a stroller along, right?!  Suddenly, you had to relearn how to navigate the mall.  Opening doors became a magic feat involving parts of your body that had never before been used for such a task.  And the impossible undertaking of navigating through the aisles of crowded stores without catching tires and knocking garments off racks made you wonder if you really needed to get out of the house all that badly after all.  And then when the second child, complete with a double stroller, came along... forget about it.

But... on the other hand... navigation difficulties aside... you found out there are some perks of shopping with a stroller.... You know that handy little cup holder that made you feel like it was okay to take a drink with you into stores?  And that blessed little basket that held all manner of things including coats and purses and shopping bags and whatever else you didn't want to carry?  Yeah, maybe shopping with a stroller isn't such a bad thing after all....

And that is just where I was at.  After six years of pushing single strollers, double strollers, umbrella strollers, and hating every wheel-twisted moment of it, I sort of fell in love.  I knew that.  What I didn't know (until today) is that I forgot how to shop without one.  Today, I successfully abandoned a shopping bag from one store at the cash register of another; left items I intended to purchase... and my purse... sitting unattended and forgotten in the middle of a third store; and deserted McKenna, Amariah's $100 American Girl doll, in the dressing room of the same.  If not for the honesty of the finders (and my success in creating a fabulous family picture ensemble :-)), I would say my first stroller-less shopping trip in six years was an utter failure.  At least it was just my stuff I couldn't keep track of and not my kids....

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