I've been vocal about the fact that we've taken the pandemic seriously. We rarely go in public spaces, including stores. My three children have been into a public building less than a dozen times since last March. Despite getting vaccinated, we've still been careful and we still plan to be. It does mean that we're getting out a bit more and carefully planning any public appearances.
Yesterday was one of our public days. It's spring break around here, but I had the minis work through spring break (and myself) with the idea that we'll be a road trip in a month and take time off then. However, I did let them take Thursday off to do a Day of Service. They packaged meals at Meals From The Heartland and went shopping for local food pantries.
At the end of the day, I surprised them by getting off of work early and we gave them their prizes for their trivia style test earlier in the week AND told them we could do anything they chose. So, Thursday afternoon found us eating paletas from Monaraca and roaming the aisles of Target. That's what they chose to do. Walk around Target. They didn't ask to buy anything (they know that Easter is coming up, so they slyly mentioned things they saw), but the youngest mini had to touch EVERTHING she walked by.
Walked down the coffee aisle: she ran her hand over every single coffee bag. Deciding on granola bars: she grabbed every single freaking box before deciding on Cliff bars. You get the picture. Now, I wasn't overly worried about it since she washed her hands before entering the store and had her mask on, but my goodness, it made me laugh. She acted like she was seeing the world for the first time! The boys were more conscience about what they touched/keeping their hands off of things, but the youngest just went for it.
Out of everything yesterday afternoon, that stuck out to me the most. She was soooo excited to be in public, in an almost normal way, that we HAD to walk every aisle, see all the things. Part of me feels bad that a run to Target is a huge highlight now for my children (although, really, when isn't it?) and the other part of me feels that it's a sign of the times. Overall, the entire afternoon had me feeling immensely proud of my minis, who work so hard and power through anything and everything. I'm so ready to get back to our "work hard, play harder" mantra.
