I have many childhood memories from the wal-mart. Most of them centered around my mom taking forever in Wal-mart and walking beside the cart imagining escape scenarios in my head. I also remember stopping strangers to talk to them. I still do both of these when I go to wal-mart as a grown up. When I would get so bored I would start to get angry I would hide in the clothes racks because I thought it would scare Mom. Mostly it just pissed her off. I remember on the car rides to the store sitting in the back seat because I was the youngest and that is where the youngest sat when they were little. She would quiz us on what to do if we got lost. I repeated to her time and time again that we find someone who works there to page my mom and stay where I was. I also remember getting separated from my mom and my sister and being scared but knowing exactly what to do. My mom is a pretty smart lady.
When I got older I got to wander around the store by myself. It seemed like such a big deal. Mostly I would walk in circles until I got bored enough to try and find my mom again. I soon came to the realization that she had wal-mart camouflage and could melt into her surroundings until she was ready to be found. I still picture her sensing us nearing her so she would press herself to the shelves of detergent, her clothes and skin morphing to the colors of the Tide bottles. But, as if by magic, when it was time to go she could always find us with no problems. I have figured out some of her mommy tricks, but this is one I never figured out.
Sometimes Dad would go with us to the wal-mart. He would walk around beside the cart (never pushing it if my mom’s purse was in it) until he got what he needed then he would float away and sometimes he would just grab his own cart knowing that mom would find him when she needed him to pay. When I got older I realized that he would always end up at the snack bar. When I got even smarter I realized that most of the time if I could get him to buy me an icee and a big pretzel. He and I spent quite a bit of time in the wal-mart snack bar with him telling me stories while I twisted in the chairs. Eventually my mom and sister would find us to let us know it was time to go. I still get strange warm feelings when I think about it.
When my granny lived in Arkansas she would take us to wal-mart too. She would give us five dollars to spend. It was so exciting to go to the toy aisle and try to figure out what I could spend with my five dollar bill. I always bought some piece of junk that I would always break or forget about withing the few days we spent there but it was so cool just being able to pick out my own stuff.
I think it is pretty funny that a store has so many of my childhood memories attached to it.
Geeks a Geeking