Two "Real" Moments...

First of all, let me clarify that I am talking about the store, Real, which is pronounced Ree-Al. It is the closest thing to Walmart here. In fact, the stores used to be Walmart until Walmart pulled out of Germany about a year ago.

So, anyways, the kids and I had to go to Real last week, we were trying to find multi-colored 220v Christmas lights...we had already made three other stops and this was our last stop, which should have been a quick in-and-out because that's all I was going in for. Then, we'd be on our way home, which is 15 minutes away.

I got the stroller out and put Toby in, and then Thomas informed me that he needed to go potty. I asked him if he could hold it and he said, "no". I don't know why I even bothered to ask...the kid only "goes potty" three times a day (I don't know how he does it), so when he says he has to go...he means it! At this point, I'm just annoyed, because we're so close to being home and sometimes potty stops can be such a pain. Real has bathrooms, I am sure of it...but I was looking for the quick solution. That's when the thought occurred to me, "Hey, this IS Germany!", so I set Thomas up to pee in the parking lot. We were kind of parked in an obscure section and I figured it would rain again sometime that day! I opened one of the car doors and pointed to a spot on the ground and gave him clear instructions, "Don't pee in the car and hurry!" He did great and I thought we were home free when he turns around, buttoning his pants and wouldn't you know it...the driver of one of the few cars near mine comes out of the store. And, apparently, he didn't approve of what I had let my son do. I could tell instantly by his piercing look and body language. That was the last time I made eye contact with him and from that point on, I pretended that I was really involved with Toby and getting my bags organized. He stared us down for a good 45 seconds. It was really uncomfortable...and I probably won't encourage parking lot potty breaks again!

Once inside, I passed this really homely man with a scruffy mustache that I immediately thought, "you need to trim that nasty thing!" about, seconds later, I noticed that he was wearing a light pink house dress and women's shoes. He was a she. She became even uglier once I realized she was a woman... I get that sometimes women have facial hair...especially when you get older, but if this is the case, something needs to be done about it! Laser, wax, chemicals, tweeze even shave. I think it's an image that will stay with me FOREVER!

To top it all off--they didn't have the Christmas lights I was looking for!

Until later,

Emily