Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Mid-Day Outing

I spend a lot of time lately popping into stores for just one or two items. With feeding Eleanor every 2-3 hours, I don't have time for major excursions in-between. But it's still nice to get out of the house and remind myself that there is a wider world beyond my front door. If I can just gather everything for the diaper bag, keep the baby quiet and happy, and manage to buckle the car seat in correctly, then I can participate in the adult world for a short time.

Running errands is the perfect way to spend my hour or so of free time. All the stores are within 5 minutes' drive of our house, and shopping has no set time limit. If it's going well, I can browse longer. If it's not, we cut our losses and head home, and hopefully the car has lulled Eleanor back to sleep before I pull in the garage.

Last week, I was at Target, following the slammed door incident. The breast-feeding part that I had originally intended to buy was out of stock, so I was desperately searching for something else to put in my cart, so I didn't just buy peanut M&Ms and a bottle of wine.

As I glanced around the store, I noticed the seasonal section across the aisle had been transformed into a Halloween wonderland. And a grown man was standing in the costume aisle, seriously considering the mummy mask, then putting it back and fingering the Frankenstein hands.

And I think I've been living in the 9-5 world for a little bit too long. Because I was fascinated by the fact that a healthy adult male was shopping for a Halloween costume at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It's been such a long time since I was out and about during the workday that I think everyone else should be chained to their desks.

I immediately started imagining a scenario where it was extremely important to him that he have the perfect Halloween costume. So important that he blew off an afternoon of work in mid-September to start looking. Ex-girlfriend's Halloween party? Big work shindig where everyone is expected to dress up to show that they're part of the team? Maybe not a Halloween party at all—maybe he was a bank robber and finding a disguise was work.

He probably wasn't skipping work at all. But he was still looking at Halloween costumes in mid-September (which seems ridiculously early to me). And no matter what his real story was, I appreciated having something to mull over as the "free time" timer dinged in my head, and I hurried back home to feed the baby.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this Megan "Williams" ????

This is Jill (Nolte) Weth.

I would love to hear from you.

Jonathan Beckett said...

Perhaps he was going to a fancy dress party ?

Or perhaps it was a setup, and they were recording the reaction of others to him ? lol

Anonymous said...

I think the real question here is why he doesn't combine the best of both worlds, and go as the Frankenstein mummy!!! :) There's no need to choose one or the other!

Then again, I just want to wear a cape (no costume, just regular clothes and a cape) so I can WOOSH! so I'm not one to talk. Huh, I think that officially makes me sound weirder than that guy, now that I think about it.

M. Lubbers said...

Hey Jill! Wow! How crazy to hear from you! I'll be emailing you shortly.

Jonathan: Hmmm ... you know what that reminds me of? Trigger Happy TV. Is that show still around? I'd love to be on Trigger Happy ... although this situation wasn't quite weird enough to qualify.

Cat: Yes, you have that guy beat. Congrats!;)