Vacation Shopping
Every year, my son goes on vacation with his grandparents. He usually flies to Savannah and spends a week swimming, fishing, and playing in the waves at Tybee Island. We're very fortunate that his grandparents can afford to fly him there and back. Sometimes they need a vacation too, so they take L to Florida and visit Seaworld or some such.

This year they're going to Disney World. I want to be there with him, and we just can't afford it. I want to see that Disney magic touch him.
Well, I'll see him when he gets back. :) (sigh)

L has one pair of shorts that I have to pry from his clutches in order to wash. It's gotten to the point where he only owns 2 pair of shorts, because he will only wear the one pair, or the backup shorts when I'm washing his favorites. I mean, why waste money on clothes he won't wear, right? However; he can't wear just one pair of shorts on vacation. I also forbade him to take nothing but his 2 favorite shirts. He needs changes of clothes, dammit. So, we went to Wal-Mart. I didn't want to go there, but he's old enough to decide where he wants his clothes from; so off to Wal-Mart we went.

There was a fabulous Midwestern storm building as we headed out. We enjoyed the giant bolts of lightning flashing a few miles away, while not a drop of rain touched us. By the time we reached the store it had begun to sprinkle, then pour down in sheets. We held hands and dashed through the rain, jumping in puddles and laughing like crazy. Then we froze solid because Wal-Mart is air conditioned. hee hee.
We browsed the boy's clothing section, and let me tell you; Walmart has zero selection this late in the season. Everything was sports wear. Does anyone sell shorts above the knee anymore? All we could find were basketball shorts that covered his knees. So we bought long-assed "shorts" in silky breathable fabrics, and a bunch of shirts to match. Then we went to the electronics department to get a new gameboy game for the trip. (yeah, I spoil him)

Meanwhile, the storm was getting worse outside. The store had been steadily clearing out while we shopped. Walmart is a pleasant place when it's not crowded. We could hear thunder crashing outside almost constantly. While we were waiting for someone to get the game out of it's locked case; thunder shook the store, and the lights went out.

Now how's this for priorities... the reserve power kept the registers running. It provided light for the main aisles. And the video games were still playing. I kid you not. We could have stayed and sampled video games with the power out!
A voice came over the intercom and asked us remaining shoppers to finish their shopping quickly because the back up batteries would only run for a few hours. So we got our game and checked out. I guess the phone lines still worked, because my credit card went through fine. Or maybe they stored all the transactions and sent them through later. Who knows?

At the exit were a huddled mass of people, holding their purchases and looking fearfully at the rain. I asked L if he wanted me to go get the truck and pull up to the entrance, or did he want to get wet with me. He was going to get soaked in the first 30 seconds anyway, so he elected to run for the truck with me...

I tell you, the storm gods love my son. We stepped out the door, and the rain slowed down. There were still cold, fat drops of rain falling everywhere, but we barely got wet. We ran for the truck, expecting the downpour to start up again any second, and it didn't. As we pulled out of the parking lot, I glanced back at the crowd at the door. Not one of them had followed us.
Fools.