By giving up, Julia actually felt a major sense of relief. She continued to think to herself about the decision she had just made, and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. ‘Why even worry about it?’ she asked herself. ‘I mean, why should I even care at this point? I’ve been wearing diapers for too long for this to even be a big deal. I’m just not going to stress out about it anymore.’

Once she stopped fighting it, things happened quickly. Julia almost giggled a bit as she felt the bottom of her diaper expand and the pressure go away. It was kind of funny to think that nobody could tell that she was actually pooping her pants in the middle of a grocery store. She ended up wetting herself a bit too, which she wasn’t expecting but did nothing at all to stop. Her Mother had already gone on to 8 and by the time she pushed the cart over to catch up, everything was done and Julia had a loaded diaper. ‘Much better.’ Julia said to herself. ‘And that’s the last time I am going to worry about using my diaper ever again.’

Time to carry on, Julia decided. It was pretty much impossible to not notice that she had filled her pants, but Julia did her best to just focus on the shopping and ignore it. She didn’t exactly walk funny, but she felt the need to waddle just a bit at first.

The shopping continued as if nothing had happened. Which was just further proof, as far as Julia was concerned, that she had made the right choice (which she had to admit wasn’t really much of a choice anyhow). The more she thought about it, the more strongly she reinforced the idea in her head that that had been the last time she was going to worry about using her diapers. ‘Kate was right’ Julia thought to herself again, ‘I’ve been making too big of a deal about this.’

The list was getting checked off and they were in aisle four when Shirley paused and looked at Julia. Although Julia didn’t see her Mother sniff the air or anything, she could tell that her Mother had just figured it out.

Shirley stopped and looked at Julia somewhat surprised. “Honey, did you… Did you poop your pants?”

“Uh, yea.” Julia answered as if she were being asked to pass the salt at dinner. ‘If I’m not going to fight it, I’m not going to hide it either’ Julia decided.

“Just now, in the middle of the grocery store?”

“Well, it was a little bit ago actually.” Julia said casually. Then, given her new found confidence and determination she added, “I had to go and just couldn’t help it.”

Shirley looked at her daughter and spoke slowly and softly, “You really couldn’t, could you?” Or was that not a question but a statement Julia wondered? A moment passed and her Mother was still looking at her so Julia just shook her head and shrugged indifferently. The movement brought Shirley back and she mumbled, “Huh. Well, OK.”

Julia looked confused. “Mother, what?”

“Oh, nothing really.” Shirley started. “I just forgot what it’s really like to have a kid in diapers I guess. I mean, I certainly remember back when you were a baby and all that. But over time you tend to forget about the details. I’m just remembering what it’s really like.”

“What do you mean Mother? Are you mad?”

“No, no nothing like that.” Shirley looked and smiled. “It’s just that I had this sudden realization that I really do have a kid in diapers again. And then I was remembering what that really means. I remember thinking when we finally got you potty trained that I was really done with diapers and that part of life. And now its like, ‘oh, well, here I am again.’ It’s kind of funny actually, I almost feel like I went back in time a bit or something. I just never thought I would be dealing with you being in diapers again, that’s all.”

Julia just kind of looked at her Mother for a few seconds.

“Look, it’s not a big deal honey, having a kid in diapers. Every parent on this planet has dealt with it, ok? I was just thinking, oh, yea, I remember this now. Having a kid in diapers means having to deal with diapers whenever and wherever. Kind of like at the lake last weekend. Sometimes it’s just a wet diaper in the morning and sometimes it means a blow out at the grocery store. Like you just said, it’s not like they can help it, so you just deal with it. Anyways, let’s finish up shopping. Sorry, but you’re obviously going to have to wait until we get home before I can change you.”

“I know mom, it’s fine.”