Stores And Shopping And Stupid Parents

I ventured out last night and again today to Christmas shop. I figured that maybe I should start, what with Christmas Day looming large and all. And I have to say that it was a completely unstressful experience. By some stroke of luck, I was always able to find a parking place after a minimal amount of time looking. I never waited for more than five to ten minutes in a line (I'm adding the ten minutes in case I forgot a line, but I really can't remember waiting even that long). No one was rude or obnoxious or overbearing.

I only have a few small items left and the places I need to go are a breeze. Overall, a much better experience than I'd anticipated.

I did see something today, however, that made me a little crazy. At the very end of my shopping excursion, I made a quick stop at 7-11 for a Diet Coke (super big gulp, to be precise). Just covering the necessities. When I came back out, there was a car parked next to me, still running, with three small children in it. One child was asleep in a car seat--perhaps two years-old. Another child was maybe four or five and then the oldest one looked to be maybe seven. There they sat while Dad went inside---not only with the doors of the car unlocked but with the car running. I couldn't believe it. Do people not realize how incredibly quickly the most precious things on earth to them could be gone? Do they not realize how fast a car-nabber is in the car and gone? Why are people so completely sure that it's never going to happen to them? Things like that just drive me nuts----that, and seeing people driving down the road with their two- or three-year-old bee-bopping around the car, not in a car seat. In the event of an accident, where do you suppose that little free-floating missile is going to be? And since accidents aren't planned events---hence the name---how is it possible to know when it's a "safe" time to not be in a car seat and when it isn't? Are there brains in these people's heads or just dank, empty space--fluffy, cotton-like filler? It really makes me wonder.

So.....a handful of shopping experience, mixed thoroughly with bouts of rain, and a last-minute dash of bearing witness to unworth-it risktaking. All in a day's work.