Today I stopped in at Food Lion on my way to Sunday School. Reason? I just feel like where two or more kids are gathered……you need Goldfish!  🙂  While I was searching for these snacks that smile back…and I mean searching as I’m a Lowe’s Foods fan…I keep running into a family of four.  Two kids under the age of 8, Mom, Dad.  Dad is pretty upset at the meat selection at Food Lion and apparently wants the Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker to all hear his dismay.  He is using every cuss word I’ve ever heard and certainly isn’t being shy about it.  The thing is…no one is really around from Food Lion.  He’s really just sort of complaining to his family.  His wife and kids are barely paying attention to him but he still goes on and on about the prices, selection and anything else that he feels entitled to.

I’m seriously embarrassed for this family but they look SO unaffected.  I found it so sad that this was their normal.  What if Dad creating a scene and cussing like a sailor was a usual Sunday morning for this family?  I tried to avoid them as much as possible.  However, I kept running into them.  Goldfish aisle.  Water endcap.  Frozen section.  And then, it happened.  He cussed, right in front of me…as I was in between him and his family for a split second.  He was STILL cussing about meat, mind you…not ME…but he looks straight at me and says, “Oh, pardon my language, ma’am.”  I nodded and moved on but clearly I haven’t forgotten it.  It just affected me so much that this man apologized to me…but certainly not to his kids or his own bride.  (I’m assuming they were married, by the way.)  The fact that he took the time to excuse himself to a perfect stranger, yet found it completely okay to act that way in front of his little children just baffled me.  I wanted to scream at him, “don’t apologize to ME, how about telling your kids you are sorry you can’t contain your anger? how about telling your wife that you are sorry for embarrassing her in public?”  Of course, I did not do those things.  I didn’t say those things.  I wanted to…and I still wish I’d said something…but to be honest I have no idea how this man would have reacted.  Instead, I prayed for them.  All of them.  I get that this act that I saw might seem like no big deal to most people but it stuck with me, stayed with me and I can’t shake it.  I feel like when God puts things like that on your mind, there is a reason.  Maybe they are going through something and need the prayer especially today.  I’d like to think there is a reason…but even if there’s not…I’ll be praying for the Apologetic Sailor for a while and his family too.