On Going to Buy Milk at 7-11
For you, it's just a chore. For them, it's an adventure that's open 24 hours.
“Don’t forget milk on the way home from swimming”, BW said to me.
And off we went swimming.
Ah, Swimming. This is a 30 minute activity that somehow takes up the entire morning:
8:45: We had better think about getting going.
9:00: Nothing has happened
9:10: 20 minutes to go. Snacks have been packed for the 15 minute car ride.
9:15: “Has Anybody seen her bathing suit”?
9:20: Child has a bathing suit on and I have laid out clothes for her to put on.
9:25 : Child has shorts and a tank top on. This is not the outfit I laid out as it’s 55 degrees out.
9:30: We need to leave NOW. Let’s GO.
9:40: Somehow we’re on the road and there’s popcorn crunching going on in the back seat.
I love, love, love when BW takes her to swimming lessons.
Anyway, back to the milk and 7-11.
We’ve all been to 7-11. Heck, I am ashamed to say that in my youth I have even eaten at a 7-11 in times of need and desperation.
This was not one of those times. We just needed milk, and for me it was just another chore of the day to day and I was barely thinking about getting the milk or the store because I just want to get milk and get out.
But when you’re six, the 7-11 is magic.
We were in there for the time it took me to go to the back of the store and grab a quart of milk and walk to the front.
I paid no attention to much else. Milk and Get out. That’s all I wanted.
To her though, the 7-11 is magical. It got pointed out to me that they have soup, and also Sprite (nice try, kid) and holy moly! Just look at the size of that Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup - “that’s bigger than the one I got at Easter - right dad?”
Yes, yes it is.
We manage to get out of the seven eleven by some sulky teen that says to me “have a nice day” with about as little sincerity as humanly possible. She looked even less excited about the whole 7-11 experience than I was.
We get out of the store and to the car with just milk.
This should be an Olympic sport: Get a kid out of the back seat of a car, without dinging the door of the car parked next to you and into a 7-11 and out again and buckled in in record time with just the thing you went in for. Extra points if it’s raining or snowing out.
We are in the car and pulling out of the parking lot when she sees the sign for the 1 dollar big gulp.
There’s another thing I haven’t had in ages. She asks what it is, and I tell her it’s too much soda pop that any one person should have at one time.
“I want one”, she tells me. Of course she does.
“I bet you do - but not today” I tell her. “You have had ice cream 3 times this week”
“But, I promise you - sometime this summer, we will go and get a big gulp”.
Because nothing says summer like drinking a big gulp on a hot summers’ day.