My Brad Pitt Moment Part II

I was at Wal-Mart. It was the night before we were to depart for our much anticipated family vacation to San Antonio. It was about 9pm and i was at the check out counter worrying about the time. I was running behind. I had wanted to get home before dark because i was hauling a bunk bed in our trailer whose lights do not work.

I catch a glimpse of motion out of the corner of my eye so i take a quick look to see. Its a boy...a very pale boy who i guess to be about four or five. He stops his figeting when he realizes he caught my attention. He looks up at me with these huge blue eyes. I turn back to my check book and then look at the boy and realize he's very familiar. This all happens in a split second. His dad is there and i glance back and our eyes meet. The man quickly looks away.

My heart is now racing and about to pound out of my chest. My ears are ringing and I can't breathe. My head is swimming, my stomach is in my throat. It can't be...or can it? I try for a glimpse of the lady with them who is very absorbed in writing the check for their purchases which appear to be some long, skinny boxes (perhaps florescent lights?) and some light fixtures (very nice ones) and other stuff i didn't notice. I've never seen them in person so i can't be certain but these people were spitting images of my favorite hang-out online--the pioneer woman.

It was Marlboro Man in the flesh. It was spunky Ree in all her glory and her "not favorite" boy. He's as white as he appears in his pic's.

Did i try to say, "How the heck are ya?" or "i've got your chocolate pie in my fridge right now" or "your apple dumplins' are the talk of my hubby's engineering department" or "Is this stuff for the lodge?"or "You are my role model, mentor, internet superstar person whom I idolize even though you think i'd have outgrown that phase in my life, every recipe i've ever cooked from your site is to die for, my family and friends are sick of hearing me talk about you, they should know the answer to 'where'd you get this recipe?', i love you, thank you for your photoshop tutorials, i think you are hilarious, and did i mention you are a blogging superstar and i think you should meet Oprah someday and my family thinks i'm crazy because of you?"

YEP. That was a huge run-on sentence but that is what was going through my mind as I took my cart, walked by with my eyes glued to MM's SHOES...they were very worn out looking tennies covered in dry wall dust, old cement, and dirt...they must have been working on the lodge that day (which her blog confirmed for me later)...and...and...KEPT WALKING. I walked out the double sliding doors, out to my van with the trailer without lights, loaded my groceries, got in and drove 20 minutes home to my little country town in a delerious daze and by the time i got there my face hurt because i had a smile plastered there that wouldn't come off. And my heart was still pounding and my chest was still tight. I climbed out of my vehicle, trying to decide how best to tell Superman of this event and instantly noticed the mattress that should have been in my trailer must now be somewhere out on the highway...