No use crying over Vitamin D...

Early last week I needed to make a quick trip to the grocery store before going in to work. I'm the TP and Paper towel purchaser at work this time and we were low. While at the store, I thought it would be a good idea to grab the few things that we needed for home to save myself another trip, and I had a few minutes to do so. After all, I just needed some basics - bread, 1%milk, eggs, baby food, and the TP for work. I buzzed through the store and saw an old neighbor in the checkout line... it always amazes me that I see people I know in the city. There are so many people who live here and I happen on the ones I know. My mom is the same way. So, I separate the perishables into one bag and of course there was a by-one-get-one sale on the 18 pack of eggs so I've got 34 eggs to deal with, a gallon of milk, a bags of jars of baby food and the big 24 pack of TP. I get it all to the car, get to the work parking lot, back up the car to a snow bank and get out. Oops. I can't get the trunk open because I backed into the snow bank-- I have to do that so the other cars can all fit in the lot. So instead of using the key, I pop the trunk. I get everything out that can't last in the trunk-- it is winter but I don't trust it to stay cold enough to not spoil my milk. How cold is a refrigerator anyway? Hmmm... I get a grip on the the stuff, and my lunch, my purse, and my daily planner/organizer. That's a lot of stuff. Hope I can make it. It's only a block but this gallon of milk is heavy. Seeing that I'm impatient, there is no way I'm going to make 2 trips for this stuff. That's just silly. I tighten my grip and am off to work. I have to cross the street at a busy intersection and then walk 3/4 of a block. Not even a long block mind you.

As I'm waiting at the light, things start to feel heavy. Of course, I have to wait for the whole period of the light as I've just missed it. I set things down and tighten my grip. Green. I start across the 4 lanes of traffic and get about halfway when the egg bag handles feel like they are thinning. Serves me right for not remembering to use my reusable shopping bags. I decide to hurry to the little island that the streetlight is on carving out a turn lane for oncoming traffic. I set everything down to get a better grip and take a step off the island only to narrowly miss being run over by a speeding mini van by about 3 feet. Luckily I didn't drop the eggs. I'm a quarter of the way down the block when my grip starts slipping again. I move the gallon of milk under my left arm and try that for a bit. I make it to the alley, which is the 2/3rds point in the block and my path is hindered by a large moving van loading or unloading stuff from one of the local galleries. I have to put everything down, re grip, and meander around the back of the truck, into the street, and back to the sidewalk. I'm about 10 feet from the front of my building, still struggling with all of this stuff when I see someone walking by the front door. "Oh, wouldn't it be nice if he's going into my building and would hold the door for me?" Of course, while I'm thinking that, he walks into the building and the door closes behind him. And then it happens.

The gallon of milk under my arm slips. It's plastic. It will be fine right?

Nope.

The gallon of milk busted open. Milk started bubbling out of it and spewing onto the sidewalk. I don't think anyone saw it happen, but a few people were around afterwards to look at me and wonder what I was doing with a broken Milk jug. It's still in the plastic bag they wrapped it in at the store -- which I find to be a silly waste of plastic bags but I wasn't paying enough attention at the store to do my civic duty of asking for it without the bag. I quickly set everything down again, move the gushing gallon and it's bag closer to the sidewalk, return to pick up all of my stuff and go up to my office. Once inside, I drop everything off, put my perishables in the fridge and head back downstairs to move the milk jug to the trash can on the corner.

The silver lining of it all was that not only was the milk gallon that I broke Vitamin D when I actually needed 1%, it was also on sale for $.99. A virtual steal! With that, I was able to go back after work and replace that milk jug and get the 1% I really needed, along with Chick peas and Orzo rice that I forget to get in my morning trip.

Moral of the story: Sometimes you just have to roll with it. Juggling kids and all of life's other tasks isn't always easy, but it all works out in the end. And there really is no use crying over spilled milk.