Jean Mata... my local friend.

I know when some of you read the title, you were thinking I was refering to a local citizen perhaps. Alas, I was making a phonetic reference to the local grocery store. Pronounced jean mata, it translates to Jin Mart. Before discovering Jin Mart on a walk last weekend, I had been using the only market I knew to be in our small town... Moeling Mart. I found it rather odd that the store was so small, hosting only a few isles of grocery items as well as a few coolers full of meat and produce. More than half the store was dedicated to non-food items... again odd. Last saturday though, I caught my first local bus into town upon learning the route schedule and decided to walk around for a bit before visiting Tay at work. Only a block or so up from the Moeling Mart, little flags waved in the wind catching my eye and drawing me in. It was another market! A bigger market! An actual grocery market! I was elated as I entered Jin Mart! I was not prepared to do any heavy shopping with Corin in tow so I decided to walk around the store and see what they had, so that when I came back it would make shopping slightly easier. (Meal planning has been slightly more challenging in not knowing the availability of ingredients.) After perusing the contents of the store, I walked out with high spirits!*******
For our family, milk is our grocery shopping indicator. When you run out, you run out!(to the store) I thought I might attempt using my hiking backpack as a means of getting the groceries home this time, since I only needed a few things to make it through the week. After getting Corin and I ready, I grabbed my wallet and key and headed out. We arrived at the bus stop with about 5 minutes to spare and so Corin and I sat down on the bench provided. A moment after, Corin scooted to the opposite end of the bench and just froze. He had a strange look on his face and I was anticipating perhaps an attemped run for it as I slid down the bench nearer to him. Instead, I realized what he was doing after catching a potent whiff. Great. The one time I leave the house without his diaper bag would be the one time he poops before boarding the local bus. Disappointed, I picked him up and began to carry him back to the apartment. The next bus would arrive little over and hour later, though the time lapse between that bus and the bus out of town was much longer. I would have almost two hours to fill while in town. Around 10, we packed up again and headed out for another try. The bus arrived on time and we boarded after about 7 little elderly ladies. They were all so cute as they shuffled their feet to the nearest seats. After Corin and I had sat down, I observed the fellow passengers. They consisted mostly of older women, all with short permed hair, kind smiles, and purple coats. I laughed to myself as I was rather struck by the number of coats in various shades and tints of purple. It was amusing to watch them chatter away filled with smiles and laughter. Several attempted to make Corin smile at them or shake thier hands. All failed but one, as he played a shy game of hide and seek with her using me as his refuge. They flirted back and forth for several minutes before she got off. A short time later we were in town and off the bus ourselves. We walked slowly towards Jin Mart as I looked for places I might like to look around, knowing there was plenty of time to kill. We looked through a couple of stores before I decided to go ahead and just get the shopping done while Corin was still content. Walking up to Jin Mart, I stepped off the sidewalk to cross the parking lot heading toward the entrance. That step happened to be glazed with ice, which I did not see since it was a shaded area, and so down Corin and I went. Corin was on my right hip and so I turned to my left in an attempt to guard him from impact as we fell. We went down hard, but the fall was broken slightly by my backpack. Not thinking, I stood back up to retreat off the ice and made it to my feet only to crash again. This time I did not have the cat like reflexes. Corin and I landed with a thud. Fortunately Corin had only hit his little hand on the ice. He whimpered for a moment then said "momma, you fall on ice?" Relieved for his sake, I smiled and replied" Yes, momma fell on ice. You okay?" Corin smiles back, "I'm okay, you not okay momma." Kids just seem to know, even when you try to hide it. I had in fact busted my hip pretty bad, twisted my ankle a bit, and bruised my hand across the entire bottom half of my palm. My pants were now soaked in cold muddy water and we had yet to get any shopping done. I took a deep breath, scooted us off the thin layer of ice and rose to pick him up once more. We hobbled into Jin Mart, with several onlookers taking notice of my soggy pants. I grabbed a cart, sat Corin down in the deep basket, and began rolling down the isle. I quickly made my way through the store grabbing only what we needed to get us through the weekend, then made my way to the checkout. The cashier immediately began giving Corin snacks she had stashed behind the counter. (This happens everywhere we go... People love to feed Corin!) He gladly recieved the crunchy veggie puffs and began to munch away as she swiped our groceries. As I was signing for the card, another cashier walked up to Corin with candy in her hand. Corin appeased them with a round of high-fives and thank-yous in english. He waved bye-bye as we rolled away from the giddy cashiers to make our way home. After glancing at my watch, I realized we had almost a whole hour left before the next bus would go out to our apartments, so I made the executive decision to hail a taxi. Although Taylor and I are tring to save money by using the buses, I was in pain, cold, and wet. I just wanted to go home. So I made the short trek to the taxi hot spot and climbed into the first in line. A few minutes later we were home. I unloaded the groceries, made Corin a quick lunch, filled his sippie cup with milk, changed his diaper and then put him to bed. I was now free to change out of my wet jeans into my warm sweats. I made a warm cup of mocha instant coffee, and sat down to relax. The end.
LL