Panic at the check out lane

I know all of us have experienced this at some point in our childhood: you are waiting in line to pay for your groceries, your dad/mom/whoever suddenly realizes they forgot to get something so they leave to get it and leave you waiting in line, and as the line shortens and you're nearing the cashier, your dad/mom/whoever still isn't back and suddenly anxiety and panic is hitting you full-on.

I know that I should be pass this kind of anxiety because I'm old enough (and I go out with my wallet), so I should have no reason to be panicked when my mom leaves to get something and leaves me at the line. But I STILL panic.  

I don't know how much everything costs, what if I don't have enough money? I don't want to pay, and what will I do if mom doesn't come back in time? Crap crap crap! It's almost my turn. No! EVERYONE SLOW DOWN! The internal panic hits full blast the closer I get to the cashier.

The other day, my mom and I went to Costco.

My mom and I were at Costco. Blah blah blah, we did all our grocery shopping, and then it was time to pay for everything. As we were heading over to the check out lanes, my mom forgot to pick something up (surprise surprise) and walked back the other way to get the stuff, but before she left, she told me to go line up and pick the line with the least amount of people. So unknowingly and stupidly, I walk over to the shortest line (with only 3 people before me) and wait in line. I hadn't realized that with so little people in my line, my line would go really fast, and there wouldn't be enough time for my mom to get back and pay. At Costco, you need a Costco membership card and can only pay by cash or cheque, and I think now they accept credit cards. Wait, actually I don't know, I think it's cash only. But anyways, I digress. I couldn't pay because I didn't have a Costco membership (my mom does though) and I didn't have enough cash. A minute later, there are only 2 people in front of me. Now I was really starting to regret my decision to listen to my mom, and started to panic. She's not going to get back in time. I can't pay! I don't have enough money. I only have $20 in my wallet and I'm pretty sure that we bought over $50 worth of stuff. Oh no! Oh no! STOP MOVING! NO PLEASE STOP! Should I go to another line? No, it's too late for that. There are people behind me, it'll be too awkward to turn around and move to another lane. MOM PLEASE RUN OVER HERE! I'M GONNA DIE SOON! And as my mind was going into panic mode, my hands started getting hot and sweaty, and the line kept moving.

1 person in front of me. I had no choice but to start unloading everything onto the conveyor belt. I did that as slowly as possible as if doing that slower would slow time. Seconds later, the person before me was paying for their stuff. Shit. Now what?

My heart was going 200km/hr. I had no clue what I was going to do when it came to my turn. The person before me moved away and it was my turn! Fuck. Mommmmm! Where the hell are you?!?!

The worker started scanning my stuff. Mom, you better get the fuck over here right now! Half way through scanning all my stuff. Don't do this to me, mom... please... I turned my head to look back one last time and thank the stars, my mom was there. She was looking around to see where I was, and I was frantically waving at her, begging her to run over here.

You'd think that by the age of 17 (almost 18) I'd be able to handle things myself and not freak out when my mom's not there, but I can't; I still get hysterical when I'm in the line by myself while my mom is getting something.

Can you imagine doing that to your kid when you're a parent? I mean, let's be real, it's a little funny. Maybe parents purposely forget things so that they can go back at the last minute, and slowly walk over with the forgotten item in hand while watching you freak out.