These Are The Days

Another eye-opening experience today, given to me by a wise, older lady:

Lana and I (meaning just I) decided to take advantage of any clearance deals at the local Payless and see if any of the out-of-season-therefore-on-super-clearance shoes in two sizes up were worth buying. I busied myself looking for good deals while Lana busied herself pulling tons of shoes in sizes way too small for her off the shelves, which meant I was hopping between sizes too big for her and sizes too small for her trying to keep things relatively tidy and somewhere in between all that helping her try on shoes in her actual size for her enjoyment. It was hard work. 

Then, after finding the one deal worth the investment (her next pair of church shoes), we waited at the counter for the single employee in the store to notice we were ready to leave, which meant I did a lot of picking up after Lana who'd taken great interest in all the sparkly jewelry and stuffed animal purses. 

That's when wise old lady friend approached me and said, "I wished I could have gotten a video of you two back there." (The toddler shoes are at the back of the store for a reason, I think.) She smiled really big, "Just the way you two were talking to each other and interacting. I remember that." 

I smiled back at her, taking a moment to see the chaos through her eyes. "Yeah," I finally said, "These are the days." And felt warm and fuzzy inside for a moment. 

But, because I was stressed and still grabbing things out of my child's kleptomaniac hands, I couldn't help adding, "The days that go by too quickly but also last forever."


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