If at First You Don't Succeed, CRY, then try again

OH boy! Did I ever learn a lesson the hard way.  If you have ever thought shopping at Walmart was a terrible shopping experience, OH HONEY do I have news for you... IT CAN BE MUCH MUCH MUCH WORSE!!!  The other day Tyler showed me where a big grocery store is that is pretty close to our house.  I thought I was in paradise when I checked out the inside!  It actually had more than 4 isles!  What a luxury that would be! We are used to these gas station size grocery stores.  I decided right then and there that I would be willing to walk the extra 10 minutes to go to the bigger grocery store for our food from then on.  So yesterday was the big day.  It was time to go for a refill on groceries.  Ady decided to take a nap (for the first time since we moved here), so I planned to head out once she woke up, which turned out to be after 5 pm.  No big deal, right?  I packed her in her stroller, grabbed my purse and keys and we set out.  After the first 30 seconds into our walk, all the people walking in front of us that were smoking away helped me quickly remember that we do not live in a kid-friendly place.  As we got closer to the store, the streets became more and more crowded- which should have been my 1st clue to turn around and head back home NOW.  The store was no different- which should have been my 2nd clue.  By the way, so far I see no sign of such a thing as a cart in the heart of London, and you are straight dreaming if you thought maybe a device existed where you could collect your food and also contain your child all in one.  No NO No!  That could have been my 3rd clue, I suppose.  No, I held a little shopping basket on one arm and pushed the stroller with the other arm.  I picked an isle on the far side of the store to start on. As I parked the stroller to ponder what items we would want to eat, more people started filling the isle.  I would grab one thing then have to move to get the next thing, but couldn't because there were people already there.  The shopping basket I was holding was getting heavy and was in peoples way, so I tried hanging it on the stroller to consolidate our space, but as it became filled with more things, it stuck out further off to the side of the stroller- & was in the way again.  I decided to put the basket back on my arm.  This made me realize what that mystery bruise on my arm was from- a crappy heavy shopping basket from my last shopping excursion.  As the minutes ticked by, the store became more and more crowded still.  My stress & frustration level was rising FAST!  People were in front of me, behind me, bending in front of me and completely invading my personal space.  Then Ady wanted to grab things as we would move- and started whining and complaining.  I kept thinking, "I am here, I have made it this far, just get what we need, and get the heck out of here!"  So I kept pushing forward.  The basket filled very quickly- and we still didn't have half of what we needed so I started filling the stroller.  I was balancing food on all sorts of places on the stroller.  I am sure people were looking at me like I was some crazy American- and they were so very right!  I was completely out of my mind to go shopping there at that time of day and bring along my big stroller and my 3 year old- and expect to get the things we needed.  What the crap was I thinking?!  On our way home, we found Tyler- and I was in far too terrible of a bad mood to even care about anything.  I think there was steam coming out of my ears.  I felt like I had just been run over by a train, then kicked by a horse, then had water dumped over my head... well, you get the idea.  On the way home, I was just saying, "I am so very mad" and Ady was sweet.  She said, "Mama, don't be mad.  We will help you be happy."  When we got home Tyler unloaded the groceries and cooked up some dinner.  I sat on the couch and stared at the wall for a few minutes and had a little cry.  Ady brought me my iPod and put on (accidentally and luckily) my favorite songs list.  Then she sat in my lap and colored me a picture.  I eventually cooled off and came back down to Earth- but I learned a very valuable lesson: I WILL NEVER EVER EVER EVER DO THAT EVER EVER AGAIN!!!  Mark my word!  From here on out, I will order groceries online and have them delivered.  I don't know how else people can fit enough groceries to last them more than 2 meals in that silly little basket, let alone have a child (yes, and that is only 1 child) accompany you to buy groceries, and leave the store in a decent mood.  I am completely flabbergasted.  Walmart would have been a dream shopping experience compared to that, I assure you.  So one of the big lessons I have learned from this is that "If at first you don't succeed, have a cry, then try again, but try a completely different approach."  Online grocery shopping, here I come.