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| Photo by Eduardo Soares on Unsplash |
My wife, a missionary pilot, spends her days flying supplies and people into the Amazon jungle. When she is not flying, she is scheduling and managing the light program. It is a full-time job she crams into four days of the week. The fifth weekday? When you live in the Amazon jungle of Peru you need a full day to run your errands, in her case Thursdays.
One-stop shopping is unknown where we live. Every Thursday Joy leaves the house right after the kids head to school and returns at noon. Some weeks require a second trip in the afternoon. These are days she gets to herself, away from work and the kids. If fate allows, being able to meet her friends at the only coffee house in town settles her and sets her up for the weekends.
Every so often my teaching schedule matches up with her “day off” and we get to go grocery shopping together. I usually have to chase our pickup truck down the dirt road and catch up with her at the front gate. Thankfully, the motor on the automatic gate grinds open at its own pace. On those days she lifts her head to the sky, clenches her fists, and mutters an apology. Spending time alone with her away from the kids is precious to me. Through pinched lips, she always agrees.
Three hours and a few stops later we arrive at the grocery store. By now we have been to the seamstress, the milk lady, and the butcher. We have stopped at the pharmacy, the mechanic, and the guy who fixes flat tires in his living room. The spare tire is still not ready, so the “will we get stuck with a flat and no spare” lottery rolls over to the weekend. Its hot, ninety-five-degree days are the norm. Walking into the air-conditioned grocery store is like plunging into a cold pool.
I love grocery stores, any grocery store. To me, the grocery store represents hope, promise, and anticipation. All those aisles and all those boxes and bags on the shelves, all those shiny cans and little bottles filled with new flavors and tastes — they all beckon and call out to me.
What treasures can I find today? What new items are hiding next to the mustard and ketchup? What new recipes can I try with the canned pearl onions in mustard oil? Did you know you can buy sesame seed oil in different flavors and that powered juice mixes come in an infinite number of little colored packages?
Working from her lists and the menu for the upcoming week, my wife prowls through the aisles with purpose. I wander like a six-year-old in a Toys-R-Us. Boxes of pasta snatch my attention from the jarred of marinated vegetables. But what is that over there? Canned crab in spicy tomato sauce! Look Joy! Jellied jalapeños!
Often in the middle of a discussion about trying a new type of jelly my wife remembers she forgot something and sends me looking for it.
“Hey, I forgot to get cat food, can you go back and get it?”
“Sure, where is it?”
“Four or five aisles back where the toys are, on the end by the cleaning products.” She waves her hand in the opposite direction from where the cart is pointed. “Back there somewhere. Take your time.”
“Got it, cat food. Anything else?”
“No, just one thing, don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Good one! Ha ha ha…hurt myself.” Turning around to give her a thumbs-up, she has already finished shopping that aisle and has turned the corner.
“Cat food, cat food…cat food,” I mutter. “Whoa!…they have almond flour now! I’ll have to tell…and tiny jars of stuffed olives! I love olives!”
Finally catching up to our cart, my wife has gotten the milk, cookies, breakfast cereal, all the canned goods, her favorite brand of coffee, and all the fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Hey, got the cat food. Shoot I wanted to help with the fruit and…”
“Sorry, can you get some fresh bread?”
“Yeah! What kind? They have french bread, crusty rolls, wheat rolls, sweet potato rolls…”
“Nothing weird, the kids won’t eat weird. Rolls, just get rolls. I’ll be getting meat.”
“OK, don’t get stuff without me, I’m looking for…”
“Rolls, Bill, get the rolls.”
By the time I get the rolls bagged and weighed my wife is waving at me from the checkout line.
“Did you get chicken hearts?”
“No.”
“What about some beef heart? I found this recipe where you stuff the heart with cheese and…”
“No.”
“Did they have any seaweed for sushi?”
“No. Maybe next time. When we get home can you put everything away so I can go rest?”
“Sure thing honey, You know I can do the shopping without you, right? It’s more fun with you, though.”
Her deep sigh is the only proof I need.
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First published at: https://medium.com/muddyum/nothing-better-then-grocery-shopping-with-my-wife-75df91d618a8
Thanks to Muddyum, a humor publication. You should check them out.
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