Giant

Last night I drove my son Brian to his dance class, which was an hour away from home, and had an hour and a half to kill. We needed a few odds and ends at the grocery store. So, I went to a Giant near the dance studio and moseyed down the unfamiliar aisles of this foreign store. The store was huge and I knew I would never find everything I needed, but I knew I needed cold cuts, so I proceeded to find the Deli Department. I cheerfully got to the counter and retrieved my number from the dispenser. My number was called and I ordered my turkey breast and American cheese and proceeded back to the cart, leaning on it for comfort and support while the cheerful clerk cut my deli meat. The next thing I knew a cheerful looking man came up to me and smiled.  I smiled back. He glanced at the cart and looked at me again. I glanced at the cart and looked at him and smiled and said, "How ya doin'?" He replied, "Good, how are you?" I replied with a friendly smile, "Good." He let a few short seconds go by and said, "May I have my cart back?" Suddenly the cart wasn't so comfortable and supportive. I could feel my face turning the color of a red delicious apple, so I smiled and apologized profusely, returned his cart to him, got my deli meat and put it in my cart, and went on my way. Years ago I would have been awake during the night thinking about that incident and figuring out ways to prevent that type of embarrassment from ever affecting my sanity again. Thank God for the gift of maturity and seeing the humor in such a comical interaction, for my newly found selective memory enabling me to forget about it, for the recliner I sit in to watch television, and finally for the Academy Award producers for bringing us a spectacle the length of which ultimately placed me comfortably into a state of slumber.