Faster Than a Speeding Shopping Cart

My wife stopped at Whole Foods tonight for groceries. Usually, Troy prefers to run around, play with everything, and be generally curious. Which can make it hard to shop when you have to keep your eye on him every second! But tonight, he asked my wife to get one of the kid’s carts, and more surprising, he asked to ride in it.

The green “car” was decked out with flame decals and a steering wheel, and Troy immediately made himself at home behind the wheel. This was the life…instead of walking to all of the interesting things in the store, he could drive there. As my wife navigated around the bins and up and down the aisles, Troy was steering his car, turning his wheel left and right to indicate which direction he wanted to go.

And now that he was more eye-level with people, he was waving his hand and telling everyone, “Hi!” Smiling at this adorable, friendly two-year old in his little green car, people said hi back to him…or hello, or hey, or howdy. And if they didn’t hear him or chose to ignore him for some reason, then he’d repeat it louder and more emphatically.

As they rolled around to the bread section, Troy noticed some people in the seating area above the pizza and sushi bars…to be clear, it’s two separate bars, not one pizza-sushi place…that would be gross, but I digress. Upon seeing the people sitting and enjoying their dinner or break from work, Troy started waving at them and yelling out, “Hi!” in his sweet, could be heard clear on the other side of the store voice. It was so piercing, that my wife got embarrassed and told him to say it quieter.

Having finished her shopping and safely stowed her groceries in the trunk of the car, something came over my wife. Maybe it was Troy’s good mood, maybe it was the cool weather making her more frisky and alive. Whatever it was, my wife decided to let Troy “drive” the cart around the parking lot. There were relatively few cars out, so they had wide open spaces to open her up! My wife got into full character, giving the souped up sports car realistic engine noises and shaking the basket as it revved with power. When Troy’s delight and excitement had reached full crescendo, she peeled out and took off at a run, pushing the basket and shifting gears as the car neared red line. The smile on Troy’s face lit up the night as he steered around leaves and sticks making an obstacle course on the ground. When they got to the end of the lane, they turned around and raced the other way.

Some amused and entertained onlookers stopped to watch and smile at the sight…perhaps reliving their own youth when imagination and simple things could bring the most joy. Fearing being permanently banned from Whole Foods for misappropriating a shopping cart and fearing giving herself a heart attack, my wife shut down the race car and packed Troy into the real car to head home.