Tuesday, May 25, 2010

My son is wearing shoplifted underwear...

I'm playing along today over at Once Upon a Miracle.

I am a law-abiding citizen. No criminal record. No misdemeanors. Squeaky clean. So imagine my surprise when a couple years ago, after getting my 3 1/2 year old daughter and 19 month old son buckled into their car seats after a somewhat chaotic trip to an outlet mall, I discovered in the basket underneath the double stroller a 4 pack of 4T size boys underwear and a pair of baby-sized pink sunglasses.

The only explanation?

Abby must have grabbed them from the display at the checkout line and put them under there while I was paying for a slew of marked down clothes for the ever-growing kiddos.

I had no idea.

I immediately thought to take the items back and apologize, but I was flying solo on this trip and that store was all the way on the other side of the massive shopping center. It would have been at least a 20 minute walk. It was past nap time. Noah was already fussy, and I knew that it was only a matter of minutes before I had two crying, overly tired kids - so I decided to go back to the hotel (we were on vacation at the time) and later that evening, I'd leave the kids with Daddy and take the underwear & sunglasses back to the store.

Long story short - I never made it back to the store before it was time to make the 12 hour drive back home.

I hung on to the 4T underwear & sunglasses - thinking if I saw one of those stores again, I'd take them back. Sure, the worker would look at me like I was crazy, but at least my conscience would be put at ease.

Two years later, still no store, and we've even moved to a completely different state. I had shoved those items into a box which Noah found a few months ago and ripped into the package of underwear before I could stop him, exclaiming "Are these for ME???"

What could I say? Besides it had been TWO YEARS - clearly, I had to let this go.

He's actually wearing a pair of 'em today...and I still feel a little twinge of guilt.

13 comments:

Tiffany said...

LOL. Yeah I remember the first time my son pilfered candy from the grocery store. I did return the melted candy bar---to plenty of laughs.

Peace, Love and Chocolate
Tiffany

Jessie Oliveros said...

Oh, that is SO funny. Don't feel too guilty. Your intentions were always pure.

TheRixonFive said...

=) That is SO me. Your intentions are good, so I wouldn't sweat it. Just throw some extra in the offering plate. lol.
Found you on TST!

amanda said...

love this! i remember one trip to target when beans was first born and i was debating buying the expensive dryer sheets - i ended up buying the cheap ones...didn't notice they were tucked under her car seat until i unloaded the car.

and instead of going back in to tell them - i was mad at myself for not actually "buying" the expensive ones!

Foursons said...

Hahaha- that is too funny. RixonFive's comment cracks me up. A little extra in the offering plate couldn't hurt! Hahahhahaha

Stef said...

Haha. That is great. One time I was hosting a baby shower at our church and somehow ended bringing home one of their knives. I kept forgetting to bring it back. THen we moved to another state. I totally stole a knife from a church. A CHURCH!! But it is the best knife I have.

Whiteboard Workshop said...

Great story! I have accidentally come out the store more than once with something in the cart under the car seat. I tell myself if I wanted to become a shoplifter that would be the way to do it.

Heidi said...

Ha, ha! Thanks for the laugh! At least you have no intentions of returning used underwear to the store. I had a brother-in-law that worked at walmart for a short time while he was in college, he actually had a customer try and return USED diapers. One day you'll find a way to make it right, and the dirty guilty feeling will go away.
Thanks for sharing! That was fantastic!

Kelli @ writing the waves said...

I figure it all evens out given the number of times I've been overcharged for items at other stores. How's that for justification? :)

•°°• IcyBC •°°• said...

I love this story! You're not alone though..I once found out that I didn't pay for case of baby formula, even though it sat in the cart, in front of the cashier's eyes.

I didn't return the baby formula because I lived 200 miles away from the store, and only found out once I was home!

Rachel said...

HA HA HA HA HA HA!

I love this! Our kids can be so sneaky on shopping trips!

I think so many of us moms can relate - which makes it even funnier :)

Thanks for linking up and have a great (law-abiding) weekend!

CC said...

that is a great story!!!! And I'd still feel a little guilty too. I totally would have held onto them for years. Just in case...

Nishant said...

That is great
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