It's On!

Date night is on!

Nobody showed any further symptoms of illness, so the kids will be sleeping over at the Moody's tonight.

I'm just giddy with all the possibilities. I'm pretty sure we'll go eat at Salsarita's. It's my favorite, because it's better than normal fast food but we don't have to leave a tip, so it's cheaper than a sit-down restaurant.

We're considering a movie, but I'm not "in love" with anything that's playing. It's been a VERY long time since we've gone to a theater to watch a movie, so that would be nice. I'd probably swing more toward a rental from Blockbuster, but I'll leave it up to Bruce.

Last night I did my twice-a-month, big grocery shopping trip to Wal-mart, and I had a different kind of experience that I thought I'd share.

When I do our "the cupboards are completely empty" shopping on Bruce's pay day, it's a chore. I'm at the store for hours and I'm always concerned that I won't be able to fit it all in one shopping cart.

I generally go in the evenings so that Bruce has the kids at home. It's torture to take them grocery shopping if I have a lot on the list. That's just too long to expect them not to get antsy. It's boring as whiz to them, and I can't entertain them while I'm trying to compare prices.

I stood in line last night behind another couple who had a buggy full like I did. When it was my turn, a young couple stood in line behind me. I'm pretty sure they were just dating and not married because they paid separately. Poor people... he literally had only peanut butter to purchase, and she had only two items.

A couple minutes after standing behind me, he said, "Do you need any help with that? When we first got here I didn't realize you had so much."

I laughed and said, "Oh, my poor husband realizes it every time I do this shopping trip."

And he said, "I know what you mean. That's how it is when my mother goes."

I first thought, "I am not old enough to be compared to your mother, young man. I'm pretty certain." And then I thought, "Should I be insulted here? Do I look so decrepit that he actually thinks I can't transfer all this stuff onto a conveyor belt?"

But then I shifted my thoughts, because I can do that. And often should.

I realized I was falling into the kind of thinking that I really don't like. The thoughts and mindsets that lead to women being insulted when men hold doors for them or act in other gentlemanly ways. I always wonder what's wrong with those women. Thank the good Lord that someone is still teaching their kids manners these days. It gives me hope for my little gentlemen at home, that they'll see other young men doing what Bruce and I are teaching them to do, and see that it is good and right. And I pray my daughter grows up realizing she's special enough for any little guy to treat her with respect and honor.

I thanked the guy in line behind me.

A couple minutes later, he very nicely asked, "I'm not trying to pry or be rude or anything, but how long does it take you to gather that many groceries?"

I laughed outright and told him a couple hours. I held inside my next thought, which was, "Pay attention. A few years from now, you'll get married, have yourself a few munchkins and this will be your life!"

I loaded my groceries and punched all appropriate numbers and buttons to ensure that Wal-mart could directly draft the huge amount I'd just spent out of our bank account. It took a minute to fold the foot-long receipt into a neat little bundle that would fit into my wallet. During that time, the guy behind me finished paying and his girlfriend was getting her items rung up.

He again said, "Seriously, if you want any help loading that into your car in the parking lot, we'd be happy to help."

I love this kid!

And flash backwards five years ago when I was waddling around Wal-mart hugely, almost grotesquely, pregnant with our precious twins, I'd have taken him up on every single one of his offers. Sadly, at that time, not one person ever offered help. Hmmm, where's a modern day Superman when you need him?

I thanked the fellow again, and declined his offer of help. Then I smiled the whole time I walked to the van, loaded the groceries and drove home.

I love it when we see good deeds. But I am reminded of a recent sermon I heard which included the statement that we shouldn't be surprised when bad things happen in this world. We should be astonished that there's any good here at all, considering who rules this realm.

There's a wonderful song that's just been released by Michael English. The album is not out yet, so I can't find anything on the World Wide Web to post here, but when it comes out, I'm posting it.

It's called something like, "The Only Good In Me Is Jesus." He talks about being thanked for doing something nice and realizing it wasn't in his nature to do those things. He goes on to say if you could see his thoughts, you'd know that all the good in him is simply Jesus.

So true for us all.