My Thursday Night Indulgence

So my new favorite thing to do is go grocery shopping--at night, ALONE. Oh wow. On Thursday night, right after dinner, I just got in the car and went. No diaper bag to pack, not 3 trips to the car to get it all, and no 1,000 pound car seat to lug to the car... And I'm not gonna lie, I really do love Sesame Street, but there was something incredibly liberating about turning up the Indigo Girls instead, and singing at the top of my lungs. When I got to the grocery store, I just parked and got out of the car and went in. That simple. And the greatest part of it all, is that when I got inside, I got to bring my BRAIN. So if I saw something new that wasn't on the list, I could look at it and use my brain to decide if it would be a good purchase, instead of using my brain to say, "Ethan, please put the jar of pickles down... Ethan, please help me pick up all of those cans...Ethan, please stay by mommy...no thanks, we don't need that kind, let's put it back on the shelf..." And when I couldn't find the Parmesan cheese, I just said, "well, I'll keep looking, or ask somebody at the end" instead of feeling my blood pressure rise and thinking, "oh no... I can't find the parmesan cheese, and I still have to get frozen stuff AND produce and Ethan is losing it, and Jake will need to eat again in 25 minutes so he is going to be screaming in the check-out line while Ethan is threatening to bite into the candy bars and the cashier is rolling his eyes at me waiting for me to sign the receipt and huffy at me that he had to be the one to put the groceries in my cart while his line got longer and longer...WHERE IS THE PARMESAN CHEESE!?!?"
So yeah, instead of all that, I just leisurley strolled through the grocery store like it was a museum, getting new ideas for dinners, having a chance to compare prices, look at new brands, sing along to the radio, and THINK. Kyle, I love you for giving me the chance to grocery shop alone. :)
Oh, and by the way, lest any of you get the wrong impression, on the drive home I did miss Ethan a teeny bit since I didn't get to see his happy dance while he ate his after grocery store snack, and I didn't get to hear him pointing out the specific types of trucks out the window "mommy, there's a cement mixer!" Mommy, there's a bucket truck!" and when I got home I gave Jake an extra snuggle since he had taken a bottle for his last feeding. I really do love my boys. A little bit more than I love grocery shopping by myself.