"I Should Blog About That"

I officially said "I should blog about that" for the first time about something that happened...before someone else could beat me to it. Just thought you'd like to know. So anyway, this blog is about that event. So hold onto your hats everyone.

Amy and I went grocery shopping at Market Basket yesterday afternoon. Just a normal, average joe trip to the grocery store, you ask? That's what you want to blog about? Just wait. It turned into so much more. First of all, to make it seem more exciting than a dreaded opportunity to go up and down aisles in a really big building and spend too much money (inevitably), we got some iced coffee. It really makes it that much more exciting. I recommend trying it sometime.

Second of all, we almost got kidnapped. Or robbed. Or something bad in general almost happened to the both of us.  You see, we had just finished racing across the parking lot with our carts full of life-sustaining goodies (a more exciting name for groceries, even though "goodies" sounds more like ice cream and cookies than broccoli and whole wheat bread) and showing our kid-at-heart sides, when the blog-worthy event occurred. 

We had just started putting our bags in the car when a guy pulls up in a white van. I saw him first so I asked him if I could help him. My first impression was that he needed directions to somewhere.  So in my head, like I usually do when I think I'm about to be asked directions, I put together a map of the North Shore in my mind. Weird? Know what I'm talking about? Or not? Well, take it or leave it. So anyway, he told us he couldn't help but notice that the front of Amy's car looked like crap and that he could take a look at it if we wanted.

So right away both Amy and I thought (we obviously debriefed after this whole thing occurred) "wow, all those forwards we've gotten about people doing sketchy things in order to kill us is happening". Well he parked, got out of the car and started looking at the bumper. He told us that to get it looking good again it would only be $250, when Amy's guy had originally said it would be $1,000. Paint and everything, he could do it for $250. Mind you, he didn't have a business card or anything. He said he was a "family man" and piggy-backed this comment by saying his son was in his car with him (as thought that would make the situation seem much less sketchy). Well I went to put my cart away while he continued to talk Amy's ear off, which I now see wasn't very nice of me; I should've stayed with Amy but it was daylight so I wasn't too concerned. I eyed his "son" in the passenger side of the white van and maybe I was biased because I had already perceived this situation as sketchy sketchy SKETCHY, but he seemed like bad news. He was in his late-teens or early-20s and just seemed scary. Who knows, maybe he was a nice gentleman that hadn't had much sleep and that's why his lids were half-closed and he was lying back. But on the other hand, maybe he was high and hiding from us.

So I walked back and by this time, every second that went by made me less and less comfortable. And this, mind you, was BEFORE the man offered, as though this would make the decision easier to make, to FOLLOW US TO OUR HOME and he would take care of it there. 

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?

Red warning flag #6,793. 

So Amy told him she'd talk to her dad and then call him if she was interested. But really what she was saying was, you're a freak and we need to drive far far far away from you. You and your "family". So thankfully he got into his van, his son never got out of his van, and we drove away. And I looked out behind us for the next 10 minutes to make sure we weren't being followed. All the while exchanging "I can't believe that just happened's" and "I should blog about that's".  

And here we are, alive and well to talk about it. 

"Family man, shmamily shman".