Here’s how you know you’re life has changed:
You are in the checkout line at the grocery store.
You wonder why there is so little in your cart.
You remember that the 15 people who filled your home for several weeks have dispersed and there’s only two of you left.
You bag up your measly purchases and swipe your card.
You push your cart toward the exit.
You walk past the other checkout lane and are momentarily disoriented.
You see someone familiar and you are slightly taken aback.
You realize it is your newly married son unloading a full cart of groceries.
You panic for an instant as random thoughts run through your mind —
Should I be paying for his groceries? How many bags of chips are in that cart? Did I ever teach my son how to grocery shop? I never sent him to the store for anything but a gallon of milk. Have I failed as a mother? Will he survive?????
Your eyes meet for an awkward second.
Then your newly married son smiles and says, “Hi Momma!” and gives you a big hug right there in the checkout line.
That’s when you know you’re life has changed.
a small drop of ink 
I love the mini-carts at our grocery store — bigger than a basket, but just enough room for the groceries that the two of us need. I feel like I’m cheating by getting by with only the mini-cart, after years of filling a large cart (sometimes 2!) with piles of groceries. Those days it was helpful to have Mark along on the shopping trip to organize the stuff in the cart so I could fit more stuff in! Though I don’t stand a chance to see my daughters in the check out lane, I am enjoying the change in the size of the cart I use! I can whip through the store in no time flat with those little carts!
I haven’t used the smaller carts yet. I’ll try it next time! Another weird adjustment to this time of life!
Come shop with me anytime! With four kids we’re in the two-cart stage!!
This post made me teary! What the heck!! My grocery cart is still overflowing!
I think I neglected to add that I was a little teary in the grocery store parking lot. Rejoice in your overflowing cart!
Sons who hug their mothers are the best!!!!
So true! Doesn’t matter if they’re 11 or 23.