while shopping at target recently
i found myself in a long, slow, self-checkout line
behind a family of three-
a tired after a long day looking mother
a perky tween daughter
and a high-energy young son
who was clearly bored and restless.
needing to create something to do
the young son
somehow found a way to
push his head through the middle of the skeleton wreath
that they were waiting to purchase.
due to the crazy universal law of
‘on is easier than off’
he could not get it
back over his head to take it off again.
first he tried to get it off himself,
then his sister joined in,
when she heard his yelping
mom turned around, sighed, put her things down, and proceeded to help
looking at her wits end
as they patiently worked their way toward the front of the snaking line
continuing to struggle with the skeleton wreath removal project.
when they finally were in the front
mom asked the store clerk if she could scan the wreath while he was still wearing it
and deal with getting it off after they purchased it
she got the go ahead, scanned it on his neck, along with all her other items
and moved out of line.
employees quickly jumped in to help
with one holding his ears flat,
another tilting the wreath in a variety of positions,
his mother putting lotion on his face
moving his head up and down,
and his sister trying to keep him calm.
when they were finally able to free his head from the wreath
he stopped crying
mom quietly pushed her cart out of the store
her son carrying the wreath
his sister holding his hand
looking like they were all more than ready to head home.
—
“there is no panic like the panic when you momentarily feel
when you get your hand or head stuck in something.”
-peter kay
Poor little guy; I bet he’ll never do something like that again!
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hopefully. my sisters and I were known for doing things like this )
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Glad they were able to finally get it off. I am not sure the hook on the front door could have held both him and the wreath.
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an excellent point
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Humerus! 😆😅
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perfect response ))
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😻🌈
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A big pair of sharp scissors ((hmm.. scissor-hands to rescue)) would fixed the problem .. yep either the wreath or the head !!
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I was thinking they may have to cut him out of it –
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Oh gosh! Poor kid! What an experience. I’m sure next time he’ll be more careful.
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yes, I felt for him. perhaps he will..
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Hopefully he will. Otherwise the next time his mom will explode
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She seemed endlessly patient and calm, just tired –
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😍🥰
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Now that is a new one!
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My sisters and I used to do things like this so I knew they’d find a way
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😆
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Had a good chuckle 😄 Sorry, can’t help it, I’m immature. If I were there when they scanned the wreath on this head, I would have embarrassed myself by laughing hideously, crashing to the floor 😄 Hope the poor kid atleast learnt!
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It quickly escalated to quite a crazy drama and I felt for both mother and son. I imagined him being cut out if in the end, and when she asked to scan him, I almost lost it, knowing that there would be a harmless solution in the end, and they may even laugh about it later
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Oh, they would DEFINITELY laugh about it later if they’re anything remotely close to normal human beings 😆😆
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I have no doubt
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Oh I could feel his discomfort!
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Yes
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Curiosity can be tricky…
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It sure can!
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OMG! The insanity of it all. Hysterically funny and terrifying at the same time. Great post, Beth.
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That’s it exactly! When she asked to scan him I realized that it would really hard to not burst out into a belly laugh
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Oh God poor kid… Side note, if I were that mom I probably would’ve been able to squeeze a blog post out of that eventful incident lol.. The panic of not being able to remove my skinny jeans is the same panic I feel when I can’t immediately remove a too-tight ring from my finger LOL
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Hahahaha-I so get this
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Now that’s a Halloween story to scare me for the rest of this year, Beth!
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Right?!
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Beth, this is so rich. My head has been stuck in skeletons for too long.
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Ah, yes –
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Yeah….
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Yup
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I thought for sure she bought it to bring it home and cut it off. Lovely that the staff helped out. Curiosity can be painful!
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I assumed they’d cut it off for sure
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I wonder how long it will be until he sticks his head into something else.
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Only a matter of time
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I can sooooo relate to such a situation. That could have been my middle child… lol
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Same here. Or my sister and I)
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LOL
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Every day of our lives is a new adventure!
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It so is
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Mum was cool how she handled it. Well done.
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I thought so,too
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So funny! Glad they saved both the boy and the wreath.
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You just saved me from ever having the slightest temptation to return to Target ever
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Ha!
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that was a funny story – the poor mom. sounds like it worked out all right.
perhaps they should have thought about trying to sneak out with it on his head without paying for it, as if it was something he always wore… 🙂
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And it is Halloween season after all…)
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exactly…
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That mother was a pro! Loved this, Beth. 👍
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She absolutely was
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Funny, but also stressful. I can feel this happening.
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Yep!)
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Perhaps you should have given a self-demonstration about how to remove a skeleton wreath properly.
This reminds me of a story one of my colleagues tells about warning one of her students not to put his pencil eraser in his ear. I don’t think I ever had to caution anyone about that.🤣 Anyway, as luck would have it, the end of the eraser came off and lodged into the kid’s ear. She tried to remove it, but he ended up having to go to ER to remove it. Let this be a lesson for you, kids.😊
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About once a year I have one of my kinder put a bead, dried bean, or other, up their nose or in their ear. We do talk about it beforehand, but still there is always someone…
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They’re merely looking into the concept of “fake news.” It’s part of the scientific method.😂
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right!
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Oh, this made me laugh! Thanks for that–needed it today!
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yay!
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Gotta feel for the little buy, but it surely gave me my laugh for the day! 🤗
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❤
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Reminds me of Jean Kerr’s book Please Don’t Eat the Daisies.”
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yes, right up that alley -)
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a terrific post, Beth: a rollicking good read; I am putting this into my Commonplace Book: that’s the second poem today, the first entries for some weeks 🙂
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glad you enjoyed it and thanks!
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Oh my goodness, Beth, that is so funny – for the reader but not for them. I can just imagine it, though I’ve never seen a skeleton wreath. 🤣
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It’s the one in the picture above, and he somehow got it over his head )
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I figured it was that one, but I haven’t seen one here. I could definitely picture the scene. What a nightmare. (hilarious!)
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I shouldn’t really laugh, but I did!! It sounds just like something one of my lot would have done!!
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It’s so hard not to laugh! Me too –
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Had so much fun reading this, I couldn’t help but laugh 😂😂
This reminded me of my sister’s son, he is always hyper active and I find myself always drained around him
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No way not to laugh
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I’m still giggling. It reminds me too much of when my boys were little. The fact she bought it and then rescued him made me laugh harder. My Dad probably would’ve made me keep it on….for a long time lol.
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I know, I thought that was so funny
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There is always, always one that has to try something like this and always at the most inopportune time. Lesson hopefully learned by all.
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Hopefully!
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This was a good read, poor mom. I’m sure she was glad they were able to get it off without breaking the wreath though
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yes, but at that point, i’m sure they just all wanted it off, whatever it took )
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A family bonding story, the kind you tell over and over, decades later, and laugh and feel like family.
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so right, jenny )
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🙂
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This is such a great story Beth! I could see it all happening in real time! I love it!
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Thanks!
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:>)
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Poor mother!
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I know!)
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Oh man. So nice that even the employees jumped in to help!
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It was !
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It was probably kind of a fun challenge, one they were sure to share about in the break room.
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for sure –
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That sounds like my life. They will laugh about that forever
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Absolutely!
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Okay, Beth. I know I shouldn’t laugh at his misfortune, but I love your post and it made me grin. There was a feeling of foreshadowing and inevitability about the storyline.
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yes, and i could not help laughing either )
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