The Circle of Life

Dear Young Naive Mom,

You looked so cute yesterday at Walmart pushing the cart with your sweet little sleeping baby tucked so nicely in his car seat. Weren't you just adorable as you took your time reading the yogurt label before you placed it ever so gently into your cart? You were so sweet as you rolled over near the milk and by my cart filled with my Little Houdini. Your laugh was contagious as my Little Houdini escaped the strap and buckle I had fastened around him so tightly that he had a buckle indentation on his belly. You laughed even louder as I grabbed him and said in exasperation, "Oh my gosh! You little fart!"

I still thought you were adorable as we kept running into each other aisle after aisle with your sweet, quiet, sleeping little baby. I mean, I was a tad bit jealous that you were having such an easy time shopping. Maybe I was becoming a little irritated as I was yelling at my Little Great White Hunter to stop pretending to shoot other customers, wrestling Little (now screaming) Houdini back into the cart for the 28th time and hucking my groceries into the cart as fast as humanly possible just so I could get out of the freakin store!

Oh yeah, I was irritated! I remember the days when I was just like you. The days when I could go grocery shopping with my sweet little sleeping baby tucked so nicely in his car seat. The days when I laughed at moms who couldn't control their screaming, climbing, running children. Those were the days.

So Dear Young Naive Mom, I'm sorry you had to witness me grabbing my Little Great White Hunter by the arm, flinging him around and yelling "Quit screwing around!" after he tried to take a bite out of an apple on display. I saw your glare Young Naive Mom and am sure you've never had to put on such a manic display in public...yet.

You just wait. Your day will come and when it does, I hope I'm there to witness it. I hope I run into you again at Walmart in about 4 years. By then, your sweet little sleeping baby will be a rambunctious preschooler running through the aisles, shooting at other customers, running into carts and eating whatever may be within arm's reach. By then, you should have a toddler too who will stand up in the cart, scream at the top of his lungs and kick you while you push the cart. Oh, your day will come. You will take your seemingly sweet little children shopping and will suddenly realize that you have met your match. And when you do, I guarantee there will be cute little Young Naive Moms there, shopping with ease as they push their sweet little sleeping baby, to laugh and glare at you.