flotsam and jetsam

This evening I had a moment of sheer giddiness, I was in the grocery store, by my self, oh no one pinch me this is a dream!!!  No little bodies hanging out of the cart to grab the yummy cereals, no little ones trying to eat the cup holders, 'cause they taste so yummy(yuck!!!), and no one to ask if we can get this, this, and oh yes this, completely not on our list bunch of items, ah yes bliss!!  Then I check out, and I find they are still with me, no not hidden like the shoemakers elves in the pockets of my purse, or tucked like Mother Hubbard in my shoes (I am wearing flip flops, it is 85* and humid!), but there in my purse, the flotsam and jetsam of my children, always with me, **sigh**
I had to wrangle a pacifier on a leash, that had caught it self up with a pink ipod headset(not mine of course), and then fish through the stickers and stickers backs to find my wallet.  Pulling it out disgorged a diaper, thankfully still as yet unused(not always the case there:-), hair bows galore, crayons from every restaurant from here to DC in a rainbow of broken bits, a money pouch for VBS, bandaids, mostly empty wrappers of course, not too helpful there!, wads of unused tissues(requiring surgical care to unwad prior to sneezing in them:-), 2 lip glosses in my fave colors, that I had thought were lost for good(and may be again, now), a few rocks from the beach, sunscreen stick, lotion bottle, paperback for when I have 3 minutes to myself(hahahaha), and finally there comes my large, turquoise wallet, easy to spot from a  hundred yards, unless buried under the children that consume my life, and now apparently my purse.  Is nothing sacred anymore, really, it was embarrassing, especially since I had no kids to play treasure hunt and have them collect all their things up again.  So, I had to reload the whole pile-o-crap back into the yawning cavern of my purse and then get my bags to go, no longer alone, but carrying my kids lives, or at least their precious cargo homeward with me, to redistribute until the next time they find a neat rock, or get a sticker from therapy they just cannot use, or skin a knee and need a bandaid, but have no trash can for the wrapper, or need a diaper change, in the middle of nowhereville, with no trash in sight **sigh** my life, it goes from moments of sheer bliss to tidal waves of childish jetsam, in the blink of an eye, or in this case the swipe of a card **sigh**