In An Instant

It only takes a minute, you look away, just to grab a butternut squash and it happens, I turn but it's too late; Kate has cornered a Trader Joe's employee, he's trapped and can't get away now. And this poor man is holding a box of produce of unknown weight, and still smiling and nodding while Kate runs down the school friends she has seen, and here's the catch, away from school. We're up to three now, each sighting being more exciting than the last. Today it was Lola, shopping with her mom and sister, at Trader Joe's. Last week we saw Andre at the zoo, but Mary and Kate were not too sure, he was the first sighting, it was a little scary.

"And then this weekend we saw Susanna at a BAR! Can you believe that? We saw our friend at a bar, now isn't that silly?".

Stuttering over Kate, and myself, I made an effort to explain that we were actually having brunch. At our house, fall weekends equal football and so, if the girls and I have any chance of eggs on Sunday, it's going to be in a bar with televisions, but it was no use, the entire store (Kate does not have a quiet voice) knew that my five year old was socializing with another five year old at a bar.

Smiling, nodding, prodding, and we were off, racing from milk to scones, tormenting fellow customers, and employees, my two small shoppers, and their two small carts. Careening down the frozen food aisle, Mary out in front, while I struggled to toss a few things into the open baskets as they raced past, I heard a woman behind me say to another, "That does remind me how happy I am that mine are grown".

Thank you for reminding me. Because it can happen in an instant, you reach for a butternut squash and turn back to find that they are all grown up.