We needed a couple of things from the grocery story (applesauce for Melinda) – I picked the short straw, so I went. Pulling into the parking lot was as close to participating in a demolition derby as I have ever been. Here the spirit of giving turned into the sprit of grabbing a parking spot. It was a bit like musical chairs as we all circled the perimeter waiting for the music to stop just find out there is not enough spaces for everyone. After a few more trips around the lot I was able to secure a place only a few miles away. Finally able to join the hordes of grocery shoppers I found that I needed to go against the tide to get to the items I needed.
After a few hours, and only about five feet of progress, I jumped to the side and hid behind a stack of Christmas cookies, from this vantage point I was able to study the different changing currents and was able to pick the appropriate streams that would carry me to the isles that I needed to get to. Unfortunately, sometimes I would miss my exit and would have to look for a stream that had a back flow. While trying to work my way around the store I heard a few people mention the Lords name while they were trying to get from one isle to another. It was nice they remembered his name this time of year but I don’t think it was in the best of context. I tried to keep my sprits up as I was being cut off frequently and being blocked from achieving my final goal of finding the applesauce. I kept telling myself a line from Joel Osteen: “you can take my spot but you can’t take my joy”. But they kept taking my spot. I found some poor employee that was trying to put groceries (that were abandoned by customers that could not take the heat) back into their proper places and asked for assistance in getting to the applesauce. He pointed me in the right direction and gave me a push. As the current was carrying me away, I heard his manager ask him why he wasn’t done yet. I felt bad because he was trying to do his job and at the same time help us poor stranded grocery shoppers get on our way, but it was to late for me to turn around to tell his boss, I had drifted too far.
Finally getting my last item, (the applesauce) I made my way to the front of the store and there it was, an empty lane waiting for just me. Could it be true that with all these people and the long lines at all of the other cashers that this one is available? I started for it wanting to make sure it wasn’t a mirage only to see it was an express lane (15 items or less). I stopped, I started to count – 12, 13, 14, ….. 15, oh yea I yelled and then realized everyone was staring at me so I decided to be a bit less boisterous about my great find.
After being checked out I notice a mom frantically looking through her purse for a penny for the horse that her little girl was sitting on. I pulled a penny out of my pocket and put it into the machine. The loud but joyful scream lightened my heart a bit as well as the smile of relief on her mom’s face. This helped me to prepare for the dash and dodge in the parking lot to get back to my car. Unloading the groceries Melinda got a dish of applesauce and thanked me. So maybe it was worth it.
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