"Lock your doors kids!!"

I had one of those "Lock your doors kids, RIGHT NOW!!" moments.

I had gone to a store I don't normally go to. A little ways from my house, on a busy street, in a not so familiar part of town. I pulled into the little parking lot and it being a Saturday, obviously the lot was packed full. I had my van (extended cab) and I am still not use to driving in small spaces with it...like parking it in a stall, there must not be cars on both sides of me...maybe one day I'll be able to park that sucker. But for now, I cringe with full parking lots, little turn around space and cars right on my arse following me...

So, I realize the parking lot is full. I have some options:

1. Leave and come back another day

2. Sit and wait for someone to come out and leave and then try to take their spot

3. Find parking down the street and drag the kids on a long walk back to the store

4. Call the store and tell them to evacuate everyone immediately.

OK, #4 is so not gonna happen, but would have been cool. I mean, think of all those people coming out at once, parking lot totally opens up for me and I don't have to worry about parking my beast of a van next to anyone....ahhh....the daydreams!

So, I decide that I will look for spot down the street, when all of a sudden I realize that there is a WHOLE lot in the back of the store. I had no idea. It was kinda hidden down the side. SCORE~


I drive to the back of the store, and I see some open spots, and I'm having a lucky day, I found a spot with no parked car on the left. Parking would be somewhat painless today.


We all hop out of the van and invade the store. I do my return and we are on our way back to the van in about ten minutes, pretty good timing, considering I had to wrangle an 8 year old and a 4 year old that had scattered in different directions to look at toys.


We are walking back to the van and I look over to my right and see a big group of not so friendly individuals. Crap. I didn't notice them before. There was some kind of bar/club/pool hall around the back and I guess all 50 people came out for a smoke break at the same time. I felt a little uneasy, it was stormy out too, which made me think "horror movie" like right away, and I was going to be one of the victims...Oh gosh...We had to get back to the van fast. My darn daydreams were starting again. I piled the kiddies into the van, I even got in the side door. Strapped the baby in the car seat, told the girls to buckle up and put the keys in the ignition ASAP.

Now, I know my thoughts were silly. But, when you have 3 kiddies hanging off of you, walking in the alley on a windy, gray, stormy day, what do you expect me to think. Wouldn't "Horror Movie" come to your minds too?

So, I start to back out of my parking space and all eyes are on me. The crowd of 50 (which I think I exaggerated on, it's more like 15) were watching me, maybe to see if my beast was going to scratch up their rides. This in turn makes me more nervous. I had to forward and reverse like it was going out of style! FINALLY, I get out of the spot and now all that is left is to pass the crowd of not-so-happy-smokers.

As I turn in front of them, I am being very cautious of my surroundings. There are cars just parked anywhere, people standing in the middle of the road, obstacles every-freakin'-where! As I get close, a totally hairy dude moves towards the van, and I kick into panic mode. It's lock down time kiddies!! "Lock your doors kids, RIGHT NOW!!" I belt out. No one moves. I say it again, "Lock your doors kids, RIGHT NOW!!".

"Um, mom, our new van has doors that lock when you turn the car on, 'member?" says my sassy 8 year old

Right, the childproof locks that I am still getting used to. Our old van was soooo 1996 and these are all new to me!!

Anyways, we pass the crowd, and the hairy dude that was walking towards us passes by and I see he was just picking up some garbage on the ground. How was I suppose to know he wasn't walking towards us to kidnap and kill us all!!!

The drive home was silent except the little whispers and giggles from the girls. I have a feeling there were talking about how I may have slightly exaggerated the situation. But I still think NOT!! haha