The Target Cart of Life

Photo credit: Kyle Johnson – Unsplash

I stared down with wide eyes at the heaping mess I had made, and I thought to myself, “Oh my – Well, this is absolute chaos.”

… Then I heard the sound of laughter behind me and realized I had, in fact, said those words out loud, within earshot of my mother who was now watching me, laughing under her mask, and tossing more items into the ever growing collection of odds and ends stacking up in our shared shopping cart. 

Yes, I said shared shopping cart.

For what it’s worth, if you ever go co-shopping to Target and find yourself saying, “Do you think I can get by without a cart?,” or – in our case today – “I think we can probably just share a cart, don’t you?”... 

Let me save you a hard-earned lesson – the answer is always, “No.” 

Of course you need a cart – your own cart. 

Otherwise, you will find yourself 7 hours later (okay, not 7, but probably 2, which is at least 1 more than y’all had planned for your multi-stop mother-daughter errand marathon), staring at the heaping pile of items in your joint cart, talking to yourself out loud about the mess you’ve made, ultimately deciding you’re “all in” on this joint cart venture, because you’ve come this far already (plus, your feet are sore and the cart corral is all the way at the front of the store).

After deciding to keep rolling with our cart of chaos, I started to think about it and realized that, while I had been navigating thousands of steps across the store with ease – enjoying one of my favorite pastimes (and, no, it is not an exaggeration to say Target runs are favorite pastimes, and if you say you know a woman who says differently, I don’t believe it) – I had also been juggling quite a bundle of chaos along the way. 

All along I had been bouncing back and forth coordinating among shopping lists – my co-shopper’s written list, my own lists on my phone (yes, “lists” as in plural... 1 list for The New Baby, 1 for The New House, 1 for The Move, 1 for Other Daily Life Things, plus the list my husband was adding to every few minutes via text). And, of course, once in awhile I allowed myself to stop and smell the roses (well, actually stop to smell the candles, or at least to gaze at sparkly jewelry), enjoying some brief detours along the way.

This adventure ultimately led to all of the things that comprised my many, many lists – gathered through minutes (well, actually hours) spent meandering along the aisles – being all jumbled together in 1 cart…

… grapes mixed in with baby wipes,

… office supplies mixed in with diaper cream,

… and cuter-than-cute baby onesies mixed in with home decor, plastic kitchenware to prepare for packing for The Move, gear for this mama-to-be, and all of the household essentials.

Seeing it all there – mixed together – not compartmentalized into separate tidy lists, made me realize there is quite a bit (okay, a lot) going on…

… but it’s all stuff I really really want and am really really really excited for (well, metaphorically at least... diaper cream itself isn’t exactly exciting, but if it means it goes on the butt of the sweet little baby I can’t wait to meet? Then, goodness gracious, it is now something I’m ecstatic about!).

So when I looked over at my mother, laughing at my sudden realization that there’s a lot going on at the moment, she took hold of the shopping cart and, in true mother form, encouraged me to treat myself to something not on my carefully curated shopping lists.

… For what it’s worth, I treated myself to a stroll down the candy aisle… then together we continued venturing along with the chaotic shared Target cart in tow. 

When we finally reached the checkout aisle, I saw the endless conveyer belt of items that probably represent nearly every section of the store (except lawn and garden, we didn’t stop there – but that’s about it), and I watched the goodies get subdivided and organized into little plastic bags, and it all started to seem more manageable. 

Like the third trimester mama-to-be that I am, after I returned home from our epic errand run (which – as usual when Target is involved – turned into a marathon, or maybe even a triathlon given the intensity and multitasking involved), I collapsed on the sofa with water and a snack, kicked my pregnant feet up for a quick rest break to watch HGTV, and asked my husband to make sense of the somewhat organized mess that was waiting inside the shopping bags.

… and at that moment, I once again felt at ease – as well as pretty darn productive (though I did find myself wondering if there’s a figurative hole in my pocket, because how in the world does Target always take so much of my money?!).

Finally, when the bags were unpacked and the items stowed away in their organized and proper places (at least until it is time to pack, load, move, unload, and unpack them… but, hey, that can wait for another day), I gave myself a little pat on the back (or, rather, a gentle boop on the baby bump, high-fiving baby-to-be for a job well done). I crossed the items from our haul off their respective to-do lists (titled The Move, The New House, Stuff for The New Baby, Other Daily Life Things, etc.), and decided to celebrate my juggling act of managing the Wonderful Chaos of Target Carts and Life – by “cheers”-ing with a bubbly glass of... sparkling water!