There’s Nothing Like a RACK

If you’re new to Juliana’s Journal you may not have noticed the category titled “Tell Me Something Good.” Every third week of the month, I take time to reflect on something good that has happened. This week, I’m telling the story of a Random Act of Cart Kindness (RACK) that occurred at my local Kroger parking lot. I promise that Kroger is not paying me (although I could always use some free groceries if a Kroger rep just so happens to read this).

Even though school seems to have just started, both girls had fall break this week. That means they were home and the time I would normally spend doing errands alone would bring an addition of two toddlers who don’t always fare well in the grocery store. Jessa does okay, but one of Juliana’s last shopping trips left me cleaning up blueberries in the produce aisle. She had a ball throwing the container of blueberries and watching them roll everywhere. Mommy was not so enthused. I know the produce manager, so I told him “Sorry Brian, Juliana left something for you in produce.”

There was a little anxiety as we headed to the store. Mostly, I was wondering if we would be able to complete the trip. And it’s always a challenge to get Juliana into the shopping cart. She’s getting heavy, and hoisting her into the air and then bending her legs is challenging. It’s quite a feat to witness I’m sure.

Upon arriving at the store, I pulled into a spot, got a cart and noticed a car parked next to us with people inside just sitting. I took a deep breath and started the routine to get Juliana’s legs into the cart holes. As I’m doing this and the cart is rolling everywhere I’m thinking about the performance I must be giving the people in the parked car. Then, the door opens and a woman comes out toward us. “Would you like some help?” She says. “Oh, no I’ve got it. She does this all the time,” I say. And it was true, because as soon as the woman came over, Juliana stopped being totally stiff and her legs made their way into the cart holes. Whew! I thanked the lady for her thoughtfulness and moved on to get Jessa secured into the bottom cart.

When I told Lamar this story he was like “So what’s the big deal. She didn’t really help you.” But I explained to him that she did. It took my mind away from a little cart challenge and moved my attention to the kindness of a stranger. She saw someone that needed help and took a moment to stop her day and come over to offer a hand. In a time when most people are too absorbed to help (like the guru I talk about here) I took what she did as a grand gesture.

And there was an added bonus with this trip. Both girls were on their best behavior and nothing was pulled down or thrown into the aisles this time. Juliana couldn’t resist trying to eat the groceries while I unloaded, but given the fact that we had no meltdowns, tantrums or accidents I would say that the trip was a huge success.

And as you see in the picture up top, Juliana stayed still and showed off her Kroger sticker instead of trying to eat it. Maybe the random act of cart kindness gave her spirit a boost too.