Building Friendships in the Toy Aisle

A quick trip to the store yesterday, turned out not to be so quick after all. What should have been a 30 minute round trip, turned into a one hour tour through the toy aisles. Looking for the right gifts for my son seems to be getting more difficult every year. It was easy when he was younger, but at 14 years old it’s a whole other story.

As I gazed up and down the aisles at various toys and games, I kept asking myself questions such as, will he like it? Will he play with it? How long will it be before it’s thrown to the side and never used again?

Last year, I bought him a neat educational laptop made specifically for kids his age. From the moment he opened it, he’s used it once and that was only because I made him. Since I’m tired of wasting money on things he won’t use, I stood there for what seemed like days searching for something worth buying.

In the meantime, I met Molly, Grandpa #1 and Grandpa #2. Having passed each other multiple times during the hour, I got to know each of them rather well. Grandpa #1 had the little girl who was “too cool” to been seen with him. She would sneak away every time his head was turned, to rush over to the next aisle where she could hide from him. He spent most of his time looking for her.

Grandpa #2’s grandson spent the hour trying to convince him that his mother said that he could buy something for a dollar. It was a nonstop battle between the two. At one point I looked over and saw a game titled “The Fibber” and almost handed it to the little boy, but wisdom help me back from doing so.

Then there was little Molly, who appeared to be about 5 years old. She was the entertainer. Her evening performance started off with dancing and twirling in the aisles. We all dodged her with our shopping carts, as her mother seemed oblivious to what was going on.

Later, Molly became fascinated with a toy microphone and began to sing. She started off quietly and then burst into a full theatrical performance. To my pleasant surprise, she sang beautifully! Everyone in the aisle stopped to listen to Molly sing. With the tension of shopping and aisle traffic, her song was exactly what we all needed to relax and get back into the Christmas spirit. It truly was beautiful.

It’s interesting the people you see and meet while shopping. It definitely makes the shopping trip a bit more interesting and with Molly there, much more entertaining as well.

Aside from all that fun, I sure am glad the shopping is done!