Grocery Shopping

Weekly grocery shopping at a supermarket must be one of the most inefficient processes of daily living. First we take stuff off the shelves and into our shopping carts. Then at the checkout we take things out of our carts and onto the conveyor belt. Then we take the bags off of the conveyor belt and back into our carts. At the car, we take the bags out of the cart and into the car. Once home, we take the bags out of the car and into the house. The final step is taking stuff out of the bags and into their storage places in the house.

A long time ago when the kids were little I tried phoning it in. You place your grocery order by phone or online and it's delivered right to your door. There's only one in/out from the bags to your shelves. But that shopping as an experience was a shadow of its usual self. There's something about seeing and appreciating the bounty that's available to us that's important to me keeping my life of abundance in perspective.

This has come into my contemplation at this time because the Hubby is working on the weekends so it's just me and the Beamer for grocery shopping. The Beamer loves grocery shopping. He doesn't worry about time constraints. He never has an agenda. He doesn't have any preconceived expectations. He just lives in the exact moment that he's in and gets all the enjoyment he can from it. For the Beamer, the weekly trip to the grocery store is an adventure. It's an opportunity to observe lots of interesting looking people. It's a time to try out different foods. It's a place with wide open spaces to practice walking (away). Every aisle you turn down has attractive items on the shelves to grab and touch.

The Beamer's not worried by his mother's exasperation. He knows she'll get it eventually.