Is it getting old in here?

For those of you who follow my brother's blog, we smiled at his adventure at WalMart not too many days ago, as he dealt with his "stolen" pickup.  Here is a link to that blog entry in case you're interested.   

http://hubblefan.blogspot.com/

There's no doubt we're getting older.  I now have a WalMart story of my own.  It's not as spectacular as his, but it addresses the same problem - what happens when older people like myself, do things out of the ordinary routine?  Trouble!   That's what happens! 

So, my car was past an oil change.  I zipped into the West Kellogg WalMart to see if they could change it for me.  It'll be an hour and a half, the man said.  I agreed, as I had no pressing engagements, and needed to do some shopping anyway.  I got a cart and off I went.  About 45 minutes later, I was done except for some frozen groceries, so I headed over to the Subway, parked my cart, and got out a book I was buying to read (it's called "The Christian Atheist" in case you're interested).  Soon I was engrossed, but kept an eye on the shopping cart to make sure no one decided it was abandoned and rolled it to customer service.  Time passed quickly.  With about 10 minutes to go before the car was ready, I got my cart, went to frozen foods, got my veggies, then got in line to pay.  I had about half of my groceries on the conveyor belt when I looked at the child's seat I usually put my purse on, and.... no purse.  I'm telling you, there is nothing like the sinking feeling you get when your purse is gone.  It is pure panic.  Immediately I began looking, searching (visually) other shoppers standing in line.  I screeched at the cashier, "My purse is GONE!"  She notifed the CSM.  I had my cell in my pocket so I called my husband, and asked him to come as I had no way to pay for this 100.00 in groceries, bawling on the phone.  The CSM arrived, and with her, 2 people from Loss Prevention, (by the way, they look like ordinary shoppers, dressed in t shirts and shorts).  I described it, and they started looking.  The CSM told me to call 911 immediately so that if my card was used in the store, the bank could confirm it wasn't me.  I picked up my cell again, and had no bars, so I walked over toward the Subway to call.  Just as I dialed 911, my eyes drifted to the Subway, and.....  spotted my purse in the exact same spot I was sitting at 20 minutes ago reading my book. 

Screeching, I made a beeline for it, hanging up on 911 (who immediately called me back and asked if I needed help).  It was zipped shut and in perfect condition.  I showed it to the cashier, and by that time, the LP people had already isolated the video tape of me checking out.  She said, we see the purse in your shopping cart, but the next frame shows it's not.  I told her that I thought I'd left it in the Subway when I was there earlier, and she wasn't so sure, as she says it is visible on the tape. 

At any rate, all is right with the world.  My purse was unattended in that Subway for 20 minutes or more, and I never even missed it as I finished my shopping. 

Here's the best part:  After the whole thing was over, and I was feeling very relieved, I realized I needed to use the restroom, so I parked the cart and went into the nearest restroom (with my purse on my shoulder).  As I sat in the stall, I wondered why there were only two stalls - "I thought the women's room had at least 6", I said to myself.  I finished up, then as I turned to what I thought were sinks when I hurriedly came in, I realized they were indeed, yes, they were urinals.  For about 3 seconds I was aghast at what I had done, then calmly walked out, not caring - hey - I had my purse!  Things were great!