Funny or Embarrassing or both?

   A very curious and new event happened today.  Today was Matthew's birthday!  He is now nine now.  I can't believe it ... it  makes me feel abominably old!  Anyway, he chose french toast, bacon, and eggs for his breakfast meal.  Mom went shopping yesterday and had bought all of the food she needed.  She bought two packages of ham, and two packages of bacon.  At least, what Tajikistan calls bacon, but I refuse to think that the thin slices of fat with a little meat attached can be called bacon.  It basically melts into slivers of nothing when you fry it but I digress.  However, this morning, after searching both fridges, the car, and the whole kitchen, Mom couldn't find the meat.
   I was the lucky one chosen for the task of telling the store that Mom believed she had forgotten the meat there and she wanted to get it back.  Whoop-dee-doo...  We went, I found a cashier and explained in full Russian sentences that Mom had bought this meat, that she believed she had left it at the store, and that she wanted to get new meat.  For some reason, the guy didn't understand me very well, and I didn't understand him very well.  Mom says one word "packet" and points to the cash register trying to act out that she left the bag there.  The guy immediately said, "Ahhhh!", and I was left to ponder why my mom can do that.  Why?  I can prattle away in Russian and  this guy doesn't understand, but Mom can say one word and he seems to understand completely.
   He came back with a bag that had been left at the cash register, but it was filled with potatoes.  So I explained again that it was meat that we were trying to track down.  I gave him our receipt, he gave it to the manager, and we all marched over to the deli section.  The cheese/meet guy affirmed that Mom had bought two hams and two bacons.  By that time, we had the entire store in chaos. Well... maybe not chaos, but we were definitely the center of attention.  So then a tall Tajik guy with a shaggy hairdo and piercing blue eyes walks over.  He was a little intimidating and this didn't really make the situation better fore me.  He takes the receipt, and marches to the back of the store.  We wait and wait and wait.
   Eventually, they call us back, and we watch the video of Mom buying her groceries yesterday.  First, the ham went in the bag, then some candy, then the bacon.  Of course, they asked if we had gotten the candy.  I told him that we had, and that was really when things started getting mortifying.  By then, we had been there forty minutes, and I had had enough.  Mom was so perplexed about where the meat could be if we had eaten the candy which was in the same bag as the meat!  If you know my mom, you are probably aware that she is extremely organized and she always knows were everything is, so this was quite weird.  We decided just to buy the meat again and go home.  We thought and thought about where it could be on the way home and as soon as we were back, Mom started an imidiate and thorough search.
   Finally, she found it packed away in the back of a freezer.  I suppose that a little person must have been helping her unload yesterday.  We laughed, but I can't decide whether this incident has been more funny or embarrassing.  I have learned to laugh at myself a lot lately.  If you are upset every time you look weird here, you will never live. : )  Well, another interesting day.


   Love,

   Taylor :P