The Little Lizard That Could

I have found more and more that it is the most simple things in my life that entertain, enrich, and fulfill me each day.

Take this past Monday as an example. It was President's Day, and being an employee of the public school system, I did not have to work. (By the way, thank you George and Abraham.)

Having neglected my usual Sunday shopping trip to Target, I decided to jump at the opportunity to go shopping on a Monday to see if the usual euphoria of Targety goodness would take over me in the same way on a weekday as opposed to a weekend. It was silly of me to suppose that a Monday would be any different. If there were such a thing as liquid Target, I'd be hooked to an I.V. of the stuff.

This particular trip filled me with Targety euphoria for several reasons. The first being the clearance holiday items. I now have enough Valentines for about 5 years worth of students. And I spent one dollar. The second was that their Coke products were on sale. SCORE! The third was Dilbert.

Dilbert? Yes, Dilbert. As I was walking past the yogurt, I looked into my cart, and there, sitting on my fridge pack of Coke Zero, was a lizard.

Seeing a lizard in Florida is like seeing a Canadian Goose in Colorado. They're every-freaking-where. They dash under your feet all the time if you walk by any plant life outside. They also find their way indoors on occasion, and are welcome guests due to their love of bug cuisine.

I was not expecting to find a lizard hitching a ride on my Coke, though. I wasn't quite sure what to do. How long had this little guy been stuck wandering the aisles of Target? How long before he made a wrong move and got squished by some unkind person?

My first thought was to move him off of my Coke, because I needed to put things in the cart without being the above-mentioned unkind lizard squisher. So, I attempted to pick him up. He, being little and nimble, proceeded to jump on my hand, dash up my arm, dash down again, climb down the outside of my pants, and then jump back into the cart. This time, he decided to cling to the side.

At this point, I named him Dilbert. I have a habit of naming things. Usually the first name that comes to my mind is the right one. (Let's hope my future children don't end up with names like Prudence or Hobart). I told Dilbert that if he hung on, I'd liberate him from the red aisles of Target and get him to a cozy bush outside.

So, Dilbert came shopping with me. We picked out soup, bread, air freshener, and other Targety things that I am constantly in need of. He was a good companion. I usually shop alone at Target, so it was a pleasant change.

Checkout was a close call. Dilbert got a little nervous when I started moving things out of the cart to be scanned. He dashed to the very bottom and for a moment, I thought he was going to jump to the floor and be left to his own devices. Lucky for him, he chose to climb back into the front of the cart.

Once I made it past the exit, I steered the cart towards a patch of bushes in the parking lot. I saw Dilbert dart underneath the cart as I unloaded my bags into the car. At some point, he made his escape back to nature. If you want to call the bushes in the Target parking lot nature, that is.

It's hard to describe the feelings I had during and after this little encounter. It was one of those amusing times that made me feel truly alive. Yes, I said it. Going shopping with a lizard at Target made me feel happy and full of life.

Laugh if you must, but in a world where most people are only amused by the crap on T.V., I choose to be amused by funny little events that happen all around us everyday. If we don't take the time to enjoy little things, we aren't truly living.