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Guest Blogger Jennifer Rustgi’s “The Birth of Uncool”

From Guest Blogger Jennifer Rustgi at momopins.com

"The Birth of Uncool"

Ughhh, how they used to annoy me.  Every time I saw someone pushing a child around in one of those grocery cart cars, I would swear up and down that I would never, ever use one.  I’d inwardly roll my eyes whenever I’d have to back out of an aisle because one of those behemoths needed more clearance.  ”Why”, I’d ask myself, “is that necessary?!”  Well, I’ve eaten crow plenty of times before, and I’m sure this won’t be the last.  
I gave in for the first time this past summer.  I was walking into the grocery store with my then 15 month old daughter when she pointed and yelled out, “Car! Car!”  I thought she was noticing a car driving by, but it was a big, yellow car cart waiting by the entrance that had caught her attention. Something came over me when I saw the expression of delight on her face. Suddenly I didn’t care how uncool I’d look, or that I’d be the person ramming into the display cases, irritating other shoppers.  I thought about how awesome I would have thought it was to be able to sit in one of those things when I was a kid.  I hesitated for a moment and realized another mother was making her way toward the same cart. I took the plunge.  ”Do you want to sit in the car?” I asked her.  ”Car!”  she responded.  I took that as a yes, plopped her in, buckled her up, and started plowing my way through the store.
The car cart is now our preferred mode of grocery store transport.  Yes, I still look back fondly on my single-girl, mini grocery cart days, but life is full of trade-offs. What I’ve lost in coolness, I’ve gained in countless other ways.
Oh, who am I kidding? I was never that cool anyway.
As Olivia the pig says in one of our favorite books right now, “BEEP, BEEP-COMING THROUGH!”
 

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