I don’t mean to brag, but I learned yesterday that I’m the mayor of America.


I always wanted to be the First Lady and consider this a pitstop on the way to achieving my goal. Annabelle informed me of my new political office then said she worked at city hall and would help me with mayor things. I said I wanted a list of students at the town school (in her bedroom) and she said she couldn’t do that because she’s not the teacher. I asked her to make a list of the jobs in town and she didn’t want to. I asked for a snack but she refused to get me one. She will not be in charge of my reelection campaign.


Of course nothing can top my big political gains, but we went to Aldi grocery store on Monday and that was pretty close. Eighteen-year-old Sarah would have been so embarrassed if she knew how excited I was about going. I shopped at Aldi’s all the time in New York but haven’t been in months. The closest one is almost two hours away so I can’t run in whenever I need something. Our original Labor Day plans were canceled due to weather, so we made new plans that revolved around a trip to Aldis.


At this point I’d like to pause and say that I assume you all want to spend the weekend with us. A trip to the grocery store! What fun! What more could you ask for? I’ll be opening my travel agent business next week.


We picked up Jason’s Deli for lunch then drove to a park for lunch. Annabelle instantly dropped her hot dog on the sandy ground and I washed it off with my water bottle. She took two bites then dropped it again. That’s how I learned my limit for washing off hot dogs is two. After lunch we went wading in the river. It was so pretty. It had rocks creating mini waterfalls and little streams. There were little pools deep enough for AB to “swim” in but swallow enough she could stand. Unfortunately, navigating the slippery rocks was like an octopus trying to ice skate. It was a mess. People were slipping and sliding all over the place. I’m surprised Annabelle didn’t get her arm pulled out of the socket after all the times we had to pull her up.

Actual footage of our walk over the rocks. No matter how many times I reminded her to walk slowly, she went down over and over and over again.

I managed to not fall and get soaking wet so I was the only one who went into Aldis. I had my cart quarter, my bags and my lengthy list. It’s was like being reunited with an old friend. An old friend who was plotting against me. I knocked over not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR displays. I knocked over something in almost every aisle. It was so embarrassing. I was a bull in a china shop. I shouldn’t even have to do my own grocery shopping. After all, I am the mayor. Don’t I have a person for that?