Reintegration is filled with lot of things. There are some rough transitions with being assimilated back into mainstream society, but there were some really fun moments watching Tom come home.

Here are some of the highlights of what I have been witness to:

1. Walking Grace

2. Getting Dunkin Donuts

3. Eating fast food

4. Watching T.V.

5. Driving his jeep

6. Red Lobster

7. Watching all of season 7 of How I Met Your Mother in 36 hours

8. Texting for the first time

But all of these could not match watching him react to Walmart.

We went to Walmart every time that we left the house that first weekend. And we had to go through every aisle just to see what was new.

It is like when you tell a child that he can have one toy, and so he has to closely inspect everything to make sure that he chooses the right thing. I really enjoyed watching the deliberation and how excited he was. Pure joy! It was also fun to see him get excited about things that had been out for weeks or even months, but for him it was all brand new.

To see Tom’s face light up when he saw oodles of fresh fruit, milk, and soap, reminded me how lucky we are in the US. It made me appreciate our lot in life a little bit more. I never realized how significant going shopping for every day things were until now. We live in a society where it is normal to have hundreds of options to pick from at your fingertips. Ohhh American consumerism.

A month later, we still go to Walmart almost every time we leave the house. Tom’s response to this is either “Because I can” or “When I needed another tube of toothpaste, I had to wait 2 months for it to get to me, and I didn’t get to choose the brand. I want to choose my toothpaste.”

So we are filling his need for instant gratification at the moment. Most of the time though, we do not buy things. We end up just perusing the aisles and seeing and being the People of Walmart.

And who doesn’t love riding the shopping cart through the parking lot on your way back to the car?

With the move coming up in a little more than a month, I have so many ideas for our new house!

Here is one of the new things for our bathroom.

You can get everything from Walmart or Target.

• candlestick holder (I picked one with a large base so it would be able to stabilize more weight.)
• plate charger
• hefty duty glue
• spray paint (Don’t use the primer. This was a wasted step for me. If your candle holder is medal though, I would recommend it.)

First you glue the candle holder to the bottom of the charger. With most hefty duty glues you need to wait a lengthy period of time for it to seal. So just make sure that you give yourself that time.

Then you spray paint it whatever color you desire.

And done.

We are going to put mason jars on top to hold our tooth brushes, cotton balls, etc. I will post an updated picture once the move happens.

This could be used for tons of things:  holiday decor, cake stand, soap dish…

The whole thing cost less than 10 bucks. Easy peasy.