You KNOW you have completely OVERLOADED your life WHEN...

OK, kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I am truly the mother of the year after an incident this evening.

1. It is 6:10 pm as we have just gotten home form 3 baseball games and from being gone since 7:15 am.
   
2. Chris and Stone are out delivering Salt for a Baseball Team fundraiser.
3. Hunter and I just got home and needed to run to the store to get some rations for a group of hungry teenagers who have congregated at our home.
4. Zoey wanted to tag along so the 3 of us went 4 blocks away to the local Wal Mart Super Center.
   
5. Arrive at Wal Mart, so this is where the fun begins.
6. Hunter immediately informs me he will be in the video game section to play games while we shop.
7. As we finish up I think to myself to have Zoey run back and get Hunter, but I get distracted and continue to Check out and leave....
8. YES here is the part where I WIN "Mother of the Year - 2010"
   
9. 7:00 pm Get home,
   
10. Unload car,
    
11. Talk to Jocelyn and friends,
    
12. Start making dinner,
13. Chris and Stone come home,
    
14. Chris starts BBQ,
    
15. Stone gets in the shower (still gross from baseball),
    
16. Chris asks where Hunter is, I respond" Oh probably in the office playing a video game", (Still not realizing what I have done -)
    
17. 15 minutes later Stone gets out of shower and asks where Hunter is, I give the same response, when Stone tells me " He is not in the office or downstairs!"

THEN IT HITS ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS -
Hunter ( My 10 year old - baby) is still in the video department at WalMart -
This is where your life passes before your eyes and you panic,
While running and screaming;
"Zoey, we left Hunter at Wal Mart"
We both run out the house, realizing what I have done,
Into the Suburban and race down the street -
Hoping along the way 1. We see Hunter walking home or
2. Hoping he is oblivious to his plight and still playing video games -

• 7:35pm Park in the FIRE Lane at Wal Mart
  
• drop Zoey off to run to the back of the store,
• I check with the Fun Zone and the Customer Service Desk, quickly explain our plight and that if we can't find him we need to page him,
• Run to the back of the store, meet up with Zoey -
  

NO HUNTER!
We are praying that he is OK and that we find him.

• 7:40 pm We turn and look down the main aisle and Hunter is walking toward us slowly, about 300 feet away.
  
• I yell to him and he finally sees me - from that far away you see the relief and confusion in his eyes.

After he explains he has been around the store 15 times and out in the parking lot looking for us - I explain what I have done to him and grab him and hug him and apologize over and over hoping he will forgive me.
He said he was a little scared, but figured he would keep looking.
We took him home and are really thankful for living in Utah, and knowing that if we were any other place, we may not have had such a happy ending to an almost tragic situation -
Maybe this is why we are told to SIMPLIFY our lives -
By the way I am waiting for my award to arrive anyday for
"Worst Parent of the Year"