"Could you please restrain your...mother?"

My mom and I are different.
Very different.
The time I notice our differences the most is when we're at the store...

She will mosey along down the aisles,
and wander off in different directions.
Shiny!
Something catches her eye,
She looks at it, then at what is next to it.
She takes quite a while at the store.

I think that's one of the reasons she was so excited when I started doing the grocery shopping.

I stay on task,
(most of the time...)
I get all of the groceries.
I follow a list.
Oh, shiny!
Something catches my eye.
But I'm not hooked on it--I go back to the list.
I race to finish.

When we shop together,
I keep us on track.
Then we get to the checkout line.
Mom wanders off...she must have forgotten something...
So I stand in line, praying that she'll get back before I have to pay for the food.
I feel terrible making the people behind me wait.
Then Mom skips back to the cash register, and pulls out the handy dandy card.
I move the grocery bags back on to the cart,
and wonder how we managed to get through a whole shopping trip
without someone telling me that I need to have a leash for her.

There's always next time. :)

(Exhibit A. Why Mom should be on a leash.)

(an example of one of my lists...
oh yeah, sorry, Hannah. I meant to send that letter... um..your birthday's coming up... :) )