It's amazing how often people feel free to comment on some aspect of your life, whether they know you or not, whether it's appropriate or not. I was incredibly, alone at the grocery store, my cart piled high with everything from Flamin' Hot Cheetos (B's rare request - he's either the least picky kid on earth or afraid to ask for what he wants. I can't decide yet.) to baby formula, dog food, laundry soap and coffee creamer. The guy behind me in line had, like, five items and I felt badly that he had gotten stuck behind me.
"I'm sorry you wound up behind me," I said. "It's going to be a while."
He laughed. I laughed. He said, "well you certainly have all ages represented there," and nodded toward my heaping cart.
A flash of annoyance raced across my brain, and then I thought he's right. The kids in my house range from a 17 year-old with a hollow leg to a 10 month-old experiencing sweet potatoes for the first time. There's also me, my husband and our neighbor/grandmother-in-chief, Grandma J., a dog and a cat. Our dietary and personal grooming needs are varied and many. We eat at home a lot. And we go through toilet paper like, well... water.
And so my cart runneth over. And my view of grocery shopping - a chore I once hated - has changed. Now, every time I lean into the cracked plastic handle of the cart, heaving it around the corner by pushing my own body weight against that one wobbly wheel, I realize that I am blessed with abundance. Blessed with the ability to afford it all, to be sure. But blessed completely with an abundance of people to love, feed, groom, do laundry for, read stories to, laugh with, fall asleep watching a movie with, share my life with. What I give to them I get back, and more.
Now if someone would just help me put it all away.....
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3 comments:
Interesting. The man's comment in the grocery store seems, to me, no different than those of us that comment on blogs. People put stuff out there in the open and those that read may express themselves - whether it's appropriate or not, whether they know you or not.
Indeed though, blessed you are.
Before children, I loved grocery shopping, because it was all about discovering great ingredients to cook yummy food. Now it's a chore because it's all about trying to find things to buy that they will actually eat. So your message here is an important one. At least I'm blessed to be able to do that, to have choice. Thank you for the reminder!
Oh, shopping is still a chore! What WILL my children eat? If I could solve that mystery my life would be ever so much easier. That's how I came to be thinking of what might make grocery shopping something positive in the first place - because nothing drives me crazier than feeling like I'm only feeding my middle one appleasauce, "fruit" snacks and waffles. Fortunately, she seems to be surviving.
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