RyanHarne.com

I took a few days off from Blacksburg in order to gather things at my parents’ place as well as drive north to see a baby. A baby named Michael; a baby who is my nephew. This is the first Harne baby, and he is a cute one. I think he is only days or weeks away from purposefully smiling; whereas, now he seems to be wholly attracted to the activity around him with a transparent wonder, the countenance of which being mainly the unspoken form of “Woah!”

This is also the first baby I have ever held - luckily, a positive experience. Michael’s brilliant, blue eyes would stare at me, while he made several variations of that mildly bewildered expression. A gorgeous child.

On the way back from the visit, I stopped by IKEA to grab the million or so odd items I would need for the temporary apartment and house. I was unusually lucky last summer at my sublease, since I was living in a fully-furnished place. The only personal effects I required were clothes and electronics. This time, the arrangement is entirely on my shoulders.

I quickly ran through the showroom upstairs and hit the free-for-all marketplace downstairs. I filled up the cart in the order at which I passed by items, a tactic that turned sour when I discovered the heavier items I required were mainly at the end of the marketplace. Gah. Regardless of whether I stacked two, shrink-wrapped side tables on top of my glassware or not, I made it through with a dent in my debit card.

To celebrate the fastest IKEA experience ever, I loaded up the car and came back inside for some of their foodstuffs at the tail of the store. In order to miss the heavy interstate traffic, I would have to grab&go. Luckily my cart had an advertisement for their cinnamon rolls on its front, so my sans-lunch stomach was thoroughly craving just that by the time the shopping was over. I grabbed the chilled 6-pack of cinnamon rolls and walked to the counter.

The lady asked, “And this is it?” I looked her in the eye, with my tired-from-shopping-and-from-driving look. “Yeah, I really need some lunch.” She bit her tongue as she smiled. Seeing it, I added with a hue of exhaustion and humor, “You’re welcome to mock me - I have no shame.” Then, smiles all around.

I simply love talking to cashiers. I simply love this Michael kid.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 at 8:40 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.