Attention Walmart Associates! We have a “CODE ADAM”!

It began as a crazy dash (FIRST mistake) for the Walmart five miles South of us. We had to get there before 9pm so we could pick up James’ new glasses at the Optical Center. Well, EVERYONE (except Dad) had to go with. (SECOND mistake!) We also had the girls’ friend with us to drop off at her house afterwards. SO, I have SIX children with me! Was I thinking straight? I really have my doubts!
Anyways! We start off late because my youngest daughter who will remain unnamed, can’t find her shoes. BIG surprise! Can I just say that I am soooo fed up with the shoe losing thing? HELLO! Can you please put them in the same place – PLEASE! So, I almost took off without her. (Should’ve – really should’ve!) SO, we are really pushing the time limit as I race down the freeway, take the offramp, swing a right, then a left, then a right, then a right – and I tell Brandon and James to jump out and run in as I pull up to the doors. Brandon jumps out – James get out and says “What? What am I supposed to do?” “RUN!” I tell him, “Follow your brother!” I then park the van and get the rest of the troupe out. Well, we walk in and Brandon and James are standing outside the ropes that block the entrance to the optical center. I heave a big sigh and said “Oh no! We didn’t make it!” But Brandon says that they caught her just in time and she was just back getting the glasses. Whew!
We got the glasses and then I decided to do a bit of school shopping (THIRD mistake!) for those things that we hadn’t got yet that were on the kids “lists”. So we get those and then proceed to wander around the store. We looked at phones (FOURTH mistake!) so maybe the boys could actually have contact with me if they weren’t home. I’m just a concerned mom, not really too overprotective! Really! So I make a decision and call the DH to confirm the purchase. Well, he didn’t like it! “Do you think we’re made of money? They don’t need a phone!” Etc. I was annoyed verging on really ticked off so I said to the kids – let’s forget it and get on with our shopping.
So, we all traipse off and a minute later I ask, “Where’s John???” We couldn’t see him anywhere. I had everyone branch out. We went back to the phone area – no John. We went to the toys – no John. We went down a couple main aisles – no John. Ok, I was starting to panic! We headed back to the phones and when we still couldn’t see him, I headed to the electronics cashier and told him I had a “lost boy”. He immediately announced a “CODE ADAM” which is an instant door monitoring and department check. After giving the associate a description, which was quite accurate because I remembered the incident earlier that evening regarding his clothes. He was on his second outfit of the day and threw a fit when I told him Brandon had to help him put it on. So, we waited a few minutes back at electronics and then we were told that if they found him they would bring him up to customer service. We headed up there and I saw Brandon a section over making his way up there too. When we were out in the clear I saw that he had John with him. I ran up to them and grabbed John and asked him where he had been. He calmly stated that “I just wanted a baseball!” Brandon had found him back in the sporting goods where we had been looking for soccer shin-guards.

As I was putting John into the cart and telling him that he can’t get out again the store manager asks me if he was mine and if this was the one that was lost. I said with a sigh, “Yep! This is the guilty one!” I must’ve looked pretty frazzled because he then said, “Are you going to be okay?” Looking around at the bunch of kids gathered around me I managed another sigh and stated, “Sure – I’ll be just fine!”












The "GUILTY" one!