What Better Way to Spend A Friday Night?

One Friday night recently, we had to go to Walmart to go shopping. Technically, I didn't need to go. MK could have managed just fine without me, but she said that she would prefer that I went. So I did.

After the obligatory initial 10 minutes of shopping together, I headed off to hide in the electronics section where I could look at the games, DVDs, CDs and all of the home electronics I wasn't going to be able to buy.

I browsed there for a while and saw a some interesting things now available on DVD. It's strange enough to see things like the Dukes of Hazzard or seasons of Rocky and Bullwinkle on DVD, but I'm just not sure what to think of Saved By The Bell or Sweet Valley High. Is there really a demand for this? I eventually realized that it had been a good half hour or so, which meant that we needed to end this shopping trip soon or I was going to be leaving the store with several new games, DVDs and home entertainment centers that I would just grab randomly to make up for the time I had to spend here.

As I left the electronics section, I passed another man who was shopping with his wife. I walked past and made eye contact, seeing the tortured look in his eyes. I gave him the sympathetic head-nod. You know, the one that says, "Yes, I understand. I've been there. Just wait, in a couple of years she'll send you off on your own just to make you shut up. Then you'll be free to browse the DVDs with me and the other husbands at stage 2." (Quick primer on the stages: Stage 1: You have to go with her and stay with her the entire time. Stage 2: You are still required to go to the store, but after a brief period of time are permitted to wader freely. Stage 3: You are trusted enough or annoying enough to be left at home.)

I continued on and began looking for MK. I searched and searched, but still couldn't find her. At this point, the search for Jimmy Hoffa was going better than mine. I knew that I needed to find her soon, because rather than seeing time passing, I was seeing the total amount at the cash register going higher and higher. Eventually, I realized that we both have cell phones. In fact, we have phones with a walkie-talkie feature to make things like this really easy. Too bad we both left them in the car. When I began to think that all hope was lost, she came around the corner of an aisle, wheels on the shopping cart straining under the weight of the purchases. Well, at least it was over, it was time to go home.

As we checked out and paid the cashier, MK turned to me and said, "I didn't find what I needed. We need to go to Meijer now."

Someday, I'll get to that third stage, but for now I've got to at least make sure to remember the cell phones.

Until later...