Mac n Cheese, Crab Puffs, and a Shopping Cart

Dinners don’t have to be Pinterest-perfect or Instagram grid-worthy to be meaningful. I don’t cook from scratch every meal. Homemade is my ideal but 100% isn’t a realistic goal for me. Fed is best, as they say, and done is better than perfect. I could make everyone I love miserable while I strive for an unrealistic ideal when the reality is that my family cares less about those details and more about enjoying our food and each other’s company. I had to add that disclaimer before telling this story.

It was the end of the summer of 2021. I was still on maternity leave, George was just a couple of months old, and Brett had started a per diem trucking job. He was on an overnight route and the kids and I were feeling particularly feral. It was past dinner time and I had no plan. In that case, during that season, we would end up loading up and heading to Rosauer’s. The kids love the macaroni and cheese and chicken strips from the deli counter. It’s right next to Ichi Teriyaki and I’m obsessed with their crab puffs. It’s just meant to be. 

So we piled into the Suburban. The oldest of my four was four at the time and that made for a lot of car seats to buckle and unbuckle. We got to the store, I popped George in his infant seat in the cart, I unbuckled all the other kids, and found their respective places in and on the cart. Somehow only one kid made it there with shoes on, but we were there nonetheless. 

I had already called in an order for my crab puffs to Ichi and we rolled into the store right up to the deli counter just to find an empty tub where the mac n cheese is supposed to be! The horror! 20 minutes they said, and there would be a fresh batch coming out. I had a decision to make and, like most decisions I made during that phase of life, my choice was purely based on what option involved the least amount of car seat buckling and unbuckling.

Option 1: Head back to the Suburban, load up, drive across the parking lot to Ichi, grab the crab puffs, drive back across the parking lot, unload, pick up the mac n cheese, load back up…..We couldn’t walk because only one kid had shoes on, it was 90 degrees, and I had a baby in an infant seat.

Option 2: Hang out in the grocery store for 20 minutes with a cart overflowing with hungry, dirty, rowdy kids and still have to pick up the takeout from the restaurant before going home to eat.

Option 3: Take the shopping cart for a joyride across the shopping complex while praying my crab puffs are still in range of the anti-theft device on the cart.

You guessed it, I picked Option 3! My legs were burning and I was a sweaty mess when we got there, but we made it without the wheels locking up or the alarm going off, whatever is alleged to happen when you “borrow” a shopping cart. Ruby and Willa remember this as quite a ride and we were laughing about it tonight at dinner. 

Ruby: The night we went to Rosauer’s and they were out of mac n cheese.

 

Willa: And they weren’t gonna have any more for two whole hours!

 

Ruby: And all of us kids were being crazy so mom had us locked in the cart. I would have locked us in the cart too, we were pretty crazy when we were kids.

 

Willa: And Momma was crazy too, she ran us all the way to Beechee (which is how they all say Ichi) and back!

 

Ruby: I bet everyone in the parking lot was like, “Whoa, that mom must really Beechee!”

 

Willa: And also, “Whoa, those kids must really love man n cheese!”

This, my friends, is how an imperfect family dinner became more than just a meal and turned into a significant memory.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for these bright and energetic children. I also want to thank you for all the choices we have available and the freedom to make them. Please continue to work you are doing in my impatient heart and help me to see myself, as well as my family, as dearly loved children of God. Amen.