Costco On a Tuesday

It's Tuesday night and the husband and I were on an impromptu date night and found ourselves at Costco.  Because all married people know that a date night in December equals Christmas shopping mmkay....and since it was nearing closing time, the place was pretty empty.  Well...as empty as a Costco in mid December can be!

We walked around and I noticed a few people staring.  But hey- this is nothing new for us.  Several people literally leaped out of the husband's way, as if he would run them over with his double wide shopping cart. Ha!  A few ladies gave me some pretty intense glares when the husband grabbed my hips and pulled me towards him for a kiss.  Eh- jealousy breeds bitterness ladies and I ain't even worried mmkay....  And I'm not even joking when I say that one sweet family literally turned their shopping cart around so as not to go down the same deserted isle as the husband.  "But Mommy, I thought we needed the cereal in this isle?" 

RUN CHILD- SAVE YOURSELF!!!!!!  Ok- this part didn't really happen but it certainly felt like it!

I wouldn't say that I've become immune to this behavior from complete strangers but I have become used to it.  So the constant disapproving glare from the older lady ahead of us at the cash register was really quite a shock for me.  She watched us as we placed every single item on the register.  EVERY SINGLE ITEM.  Gave a disapproving huff when the bulk package of condoms made their way to the belt but clearly wasn't bothered by the Vitamin D or cheese. Hey- married people practice safe sex too Grandma!  Checked to see if we were wearing wedding rings (at least I'm thinking that was what the intense stare at my ring finger was for!) and then proceeded to give me the stare down of my life.  It was so almighty that I turned to the husband and said in a stage whisper, "maybe she thinks you're hot."  What can I say- we all know I have a bad habit of inserting my foot into my mouth and this was no exception.

It was at that point that I decided to run and hide use the ladies restroom and let the husband wait to pay.  When I decided it was safe and quit being such a big baby was finished using the restroom and came back out, I asked the husband if this woman said anything or just continued to stare at him.  It was then that he told me that once I retreated to the ladies restroom, she actually started minding her own business.  The husband was under the impression that she was trying to figure out what a woman like me what doing with a man like him.

BWHAHAHA

I just can't even.  No words.

But then I started thinking on it.  Like- really thinking on it.  And it made me so sad.  We'll never know why she gave us the most scrutinizing stare down of our lives but I hope it was because she thought we were AWESOME and not because she was silently judging us.

The unfortunate reality is that we are all guilty of casting judgment on others.  Intentional or not, it happens.  There is not one single person among us who is free from judgment.  And so I really took some time to experience what it felt like to be so harshly and silently judged by another for no reason other than our appearance and the contents of our shopping cart.  I feel like I need a sticker that screams "DON'T JUDGE ME BY THE CONTENTS OF MY SHOPPING CART MMKAY!!!" 

At this point, I am used to it- people look at the husband and judge him simply based upon the way he looks, people judge our parenting, our lifestyle, we get judged for not being Christian enough, judged for drinking and swearing, judged for spending too much time together, judged for homeschooling....really, the list goes on and on.  But in turn, we also judge others.

Is this human nature?  I just don't know. 

It doesn't feel good, that's what I do know.  I don't appreciate the way people treat my husband, I don't understand their anger over how we choose to parent and I really could do without the peanut gallery speaking on my marriage.  Peanut gallery- are you listening??  I'm over it.

So last night while browsing the TV's the size of Manhattan apartment and picking up a package of toilet paper that one would think would last far longer than it actually does- I learned a pretty good lesson.  Judging others just might be human nature but that doesn't mean it should be.  

And that is what happens when we go to Costco.  On a Tuesday.