If you are going to take all five of your small children grocery shopping with you, it’s best not skip lunch and the toddler’s naptime beforehand.

Ask me how I know.

Usually I’m not this daring, but sleep deprivation must have squandered any good sense I had left. I’m not the only mom who stops by the bakery for free kid cookies with sprinkles and then at the deli for overpriced longhorn cheese to masquerade as lunch, am I? It’s not like I let them eat the produce before it gets weighed.

But I do regret opening the goldfish box. Things were going well without it. I just opened it because someone asked. It’s not as if my mind was on the shopping list, because that was left in the deleted file on my laptop. I was on a mission –divide, conquer, and pay. I thought the goldfish were a small token of my appreciation for keeping up with a fast-walking Mommy-on-a-Mission.

In keeping with my typical life, the toddler drops the entire jumbo box on the floor and wails. Of course, the Mom With One Kid From Aisle Two who asked earlier if my kids were always this good rounds the corner just in time to see the display. I smile, of course.

The lady who asked if they were all mine keeps walking. Then, I bump into someone from Real Life while sweeping up the goldfish with the side of my foot. She laughs and I force another smile. Then she hugs me, smushing the newborn in the Baby Bjorn on my stomach. The paper towels fall out, the baby wakes up, and I look for the man who tells me that I’m on Candid Camera. But he never shows.

Our regular cashier congratulates me on finally having that baby. The kids buy overpriced candy at the checkout with their own money while the people behind us get impatient. I forget the sour cream; I almost forget my purse; but I do not forget any kids. Yes, it’s a good day.

The Lord’s mercies are new every morning, and tomorrow when the sun rises, I hope to have another chance to request His mercy for the day. And then, I’ll do my own part and feed the kids before I take them out in public.