Remember when it was fun to go grocery shopping? Life has really changed! I was reminiscing today as I parked my car & wrestled my kids from their car seats how going grocery shopping used to involve a relaxing stroll down each aisle, casually examining entire groups of products to find the one with just the right ingredients, or the most protein, or whatever, and occasionally splurging on a bag of chips, a box of candied cold cereal or a tub of my favorite ice cream. Of course that was before I had children and before I became fully committed to trying to save them from the food-choice frustrations I’ve fought my whole life. Now, between strategically planning my shopping trip so as to avoid entire aisles of foods (the chips & carbonated beverage aisle, the candy & chip aisle, and the ice cream & frozen pizza aisle just to name a few), and trying to either navigate one of those ridiculous two-seater carts (you know, the ones that should require a CDL to steer down the aisles?) or restrain my youngest to the shopping cart seat while keeping tabs on my almost-four-going-on-23-year-old (WHY do they insist on walking directly in front of the cart? Do they enjoy being maimed?), it’s all I can do to get through my shopping list and back out to the car with my sanity, my children and my groceries in under an hour and a half. I know some day I’ll look back on these days with nostalgia and amusement – today though, I just look back on the experience of grocery shopping and think, “Thank goodness it’s over!”
About Monica Cardone