Megan Gott
Aug 23, 2017 · 1 min read

Tired

Final stop of the night.

Last night while in line at 7–11, a single mom with two small kids stood ahead of me. Clearly she was exhausted. Her kids were bouncing off the walls, full of questions; questions that involved grabbing and touching. I watched her exhausted negotiations minutes before, desperately trying to keep small hands contained while buying the last few things.

You could see it in her eyes; she was done. Both kids had a toy car in their hand. Now in line, their race track changed. No longer were they satisfied with store shelves, it had to be mom’s butt. They made vroom sounds, imitating the squeal of breaks and the explosions of epic imaginary crashes.

She didn’t flinch. She stood completely unfazed. Their transaction finished, they headed for the door. She perked up reminding them it was almost bed time.

It was the first time I saw her smile.

)

Megan Gott

Written by

Writer of stories, watcher of people