I was at the grocery store the other day, whipping in, whipping out, in a hurry, as usual. Confidently navigated through the foot traffic outside the store, working my way in the direction of the car.
Noticed a little blond tot happily meandering in circles on the edge of the sidewalk. He was babbling away, as tots do, and it wasn't until I was passing him that I realized he was tentatively, calling, "Papa? ... Papa?" ... and he wasn't meandering in circles, he was looking around.
So I slowed, and looked around to see if any of the other adult shoppers seemed to be attached to this tiny tot-ler.
One man several feet away, was talking earnestly on his phone, conducting Very Important Business. I leaned in his direction and said, "Sir, SIR?? Is this your son??" He shook his head, shrugged, and turned away. As I say ... Very Important Business, I'm sure.
So I turned around and got ready to lean down to the little tot-ster. Just as I started asking him if he was lost, Papa came dashing across the parking lot, smiling his reassurance at me and his son. As I walked away, I heard him use one of those standard parent lines - "See?? This is WHY you have to hold someone's hand!!"
I climbed in the car, and backed out of my parking spot, which brought me right into the line of vision of my tot-erama friend. He was waiting for Papa to load his little sister in the car. And as he waited, unwatched by anyone except me for those few seconds, he leaned down giggling, and gleefully scooped parking lot water right into his mouth.
And that, my friends, is Reason #827 of "Why I Am Not A Parent".
Because if I WAS his parent, I would have had to take the whole thing quite seriously, instead of chuckling all the way home.
