Twins

I am back from my whirlwind trip to Chicago. Fast and Furious. It was all good. Chicago is one expensive city.

The kid is all moved into his dorm. He resides on the fourth floor, with no elevator I might add, so carrying that mini-fridge was very hard on the cab driver we hired. It was also hard on the helper dude who carried up the 44 lb suitcase that I was in charge off. I carried up some bottled water and that was HARD, I also had my purse, so I was really working it.

Dropping off your college kids, is quite the experience. As far as I could figure it went something like, the moms crying and carrying in Rubbermaid clear containers marked with cookies and beautiful bedding, the dads hardly slowing the car down and trying to get the kids to just leap out.

The girls are SO WAY AHEAD of the boys it isn't even funny. The boys bring a pen, a mini-fridge and pants. The girls, they bring the entire pottery barn catalog as well as a small terrace that comes complete with flowers, a chaise lounge and a water feature. The boys have two small boxes and the girls need twelve camels to carry their items. I want a girl!

We headed to Target to buy the multitude of weird items that a dorm room needs. A clock, a light, clear plastic containers, hangers, something called a shower caddy, and flip-flops you can wear in the shower. All of our items are beige, black or white. The girls, get turquoise, pink, purple, yellow, magenta, mint green, light blue, the entire pastel color wheel is theirs.

I tackled a Target employee and got the last mini fridge in the entire town. Yeah me. It is black. Not yeah me. I bought black hangers, white containers. I did sneak in a lime green little table because I am such a rebel.

We bought our items. We paid for our items. We loaded our items in the cart. I turned around to get the receipt from the cashier. Someone stole my cart. Yep, my cart. RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TARGET STORE. At first your mind goes blank, GONE, the entire cart, THE HANGERS. Someone seriously just stole HANGERS. AND A SHOWER CADDY. This is one desperate thief.

The cashier asks me "Did I take it out to the car?" "The car!" I shout "I have been standing in front of you the ENTIRE time having a conversation. Did you think I blinked myself to the parking lot and back in the time it took to ring up the pack of gum?" The cashier gets another cashier and yet another. It is a small gathering of cashiers to discuss my cart. Where is my cart? WHERE IS MY CART? The police are called. The story is told. MY CART. MY. CART. IS. GONE. Gone, it is not that hard to explain. One moment, here. Next moment, Gone.

Target has no idea what to do. They twirl around. They look at the return counter. They check out the snack bar. They walkie-talkie, which I can only assume would be more cashiers. Maybe they are the brilliant cashiers and can find my cart. I am getting angry. The kid is staring at me.

Next thing I know, a old man, a very, very old man comes up to me and says "This is not my cart." I look at the cart. It is my cart. He explains that as he was loading it into his car, none of these things were items he could remember buying. He did not need a lamp or flip flops that can go into the shower. He had gone into the restroom, came out and just grabbed whatever cart was closest to him and headed out to the parking lot. Oh he was sorry. In fact, he said, look here, this is my cart. Look at how similar they are. Twins if you will. Identical twins. I look. I look again.

His cart had a container of gatorade. Yep, twins.