The Gold Dodge Caravan

I think it is funny that John and I own the exact same vehicle as John's Dad.  Within weeks of each other, we'd both purchased Gold 2006 Dodge Caravans without even realizing it.    Initially, I thought that was sort of an odd coincidence, until I moved here, and realized that practically EVERYBODY in this town drives a gold dodge caravan.     For the most part, I'm okay with being exactly like everybody else, it's just that I sometimes wish that I could make my own van just a wee bit more distinguishable.  For my sake;)   

For example, one day I headed down to the local Extra Foods to get our groceries for the week.    I was admittedly in a bit of a rush (no surprise there eh John?) and I parked the van in the stall closest to the shopping carts and darted into the store.   As always I took longer then planned, (that may have had something to do with the fact that it was a HUGE shopping list), and after paying for my groceries I quickly quickly QUICKLY pushed the heaving cart to the van and threw EVERYTHING in behind the back seat.    Then, I hurriedly deposited the shopping cart back where it belonged, and hopped into the driver's seat where I finally paused to take a breath.   I sat there for a moment.   I used the mirror to fix my hair which had been blown around by the wind.    I took advantage of the time to glance over my receipt and check for accuracy (just a little habit;)    And then, to celebrate another successful albeit rushed shopping trip, I opened my reward (a Big Turk) and had a quick bite.
    It's only at that moment that I noticed something was a little off.   

...Those...weren't my sunglasses.

....And that ....wasn't my Nova Scotia travel brochure.

....Strangely I saw no trace of crayon marks on the roof at all.  Come to think of it, the entire van was remarkably...well- CLEAN!

I sat there for a minute or two a little bit confused before it all began to make perfect sense.     

If I thought I'd been fast before, then this time I was lightning fast, as I hopped out of that van, ran and grabbed that empty shopping cart and began to fill it with all the groceries, (again) and then wheeled it over to MY van and THREW everything in wishing for nothing more then to get out of that place tout suite!   

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the owner of that van had been standing in the check out line watching the whole thing unfold through the giant windows.   In fact, I'm pretty much certain that there is no way that fiasco could have gone unnoticed.   I'm not that lucky;)

It was one of those embarrassing moments that would have, a year or two ago, absolutely mortified me.     Luckily, (or unfortunately) moments like that do little to phase me anymore.  Perhaps I'm completely desensitized to all things awkward, or maybe I'm just realizing that it is much MUCH better to just laugh at times like this.   

Laughter can be a remarkable coping mechanism;)