grace on four wheels

I love my w-lmart routine, when it works. I go early in the morning, before the place livens up. I park at the far end right next to a cart return and go in the garden center. I get my exercise walking to the farthest point for milk and eggs, and return to the garden center to my favorite (older women) checkers. We actually know each other and chat a bit. It's so much more peaceful in the garden center, away from screaming kids and long lines. I try to keep the whole deal a secret so no one else gets this idea and it becomes a noisy, crowded place.

Of course a good cart with four functioning wheels always makes the day go better, as any historic readers of this blog will know. I have a thing about those WM shopping carts. Last time the wheel was so bad I had sore arms and was exhausted after wrestling the cart, full of food, from the farthest corner to my check out ladies.

So today I go and look at the long line of waiting carts. If I choose one closest to me, and it doesn't work, then I can still grab one at the other end of the line, closest to the door. One of my favorite checkers was messing with the carts at the far end. I took a cart and with a sinking feeling noted the wheels were going four different directions. Amazingly, she noticed too, and understood. "Here," checker-turned-friend said, "Take this one. It works."

What a smooth ride I had. I sailed through the shopping trip. Such a small piece of grace meaning so much to me. When I checked out with my wheel-checking-checker, we discussed the dismal shape of the shopping carts. She knows, and told me most of them are bad, and they keep bugging management about it. It's so nice someone else understands (and actually cares about customer satisfaction). Such a simple thing to make a day just a little bit better.

Photo: Little One, not in WM, but with shoes and ball from WM.