My
blog gets relatively few comments, due to the “hoops” that are evidently
required to post a comment. I think comments can be easily left under “anonymous,”
but a name can be included.
I do,
however, get responses to blogs on my email.
I recently got the following email
from an old friend and former high school teaching colleague, Dave Nelson. Dave is responding to my previous post entitled, “Shopping with the Missus.”
You have to go back and review that particular post to understand Dave’s email to me.
I’ll bet a lot of us have similar
stories. I got a kick out of Dave’s
story, so I didn’t change a single word of it.
Here’s his entire email in Dave’s own words:
* * *
“Hi Ralph,
“I
just got finished reading all your Blogs that you sent recently. I
enjoyed ALL of them! I particularly enjoyed "Shopping with the
Missus."
“Because it is some distance from
our home (as opposed to the corner grocery store), I often go with Lisa to the
Beale Air Force Base Commissary about a one half hour drive from our
home. We're often on a tight schedule
and usually make two to three stops at various places on the base. One of those
is always the gas station for cheaper gas prices than on the ‘outside.’
“There must be something in the air
when we drive on base because Lisa seems to get that ‘military feeling’
whatever the heck that is! I too find myself pushing the cart just like
the guy in your story; of course, always about 2-3 steps behind.
“The fun begins at check out
time. She NEVER EVER lets me unload the cart! Why, you ask? Because
I do it wrong. This is true, just ask her. Some years ago I
did ask, "How can you unload a shopping cart "wrong" at
check out?”
“Her answer, ‘Because I want items
of a certain category to be checked out and bagged together.’
“I said, ‘The bag boy takes care of
proper bagging procedures.’
“No matter. There is only one way to do it and of course
this subject is not negotiable.
“Then
the grocery loading is the next adventure. I head to the car while
Lisa finds the bathroom. Because we do live 30 minutes from the base,
certain items HAVE to be in the trunk and other items may be placed in the
back seat. ‘Don't you dare get that mixed up!’
“Everything is now loaded
correctly. Nothing can possibly tip over because she has checked and
double checked that everything is blocked and braced in the trunk to avoid such
a calamity.
“Once the engine is on, it is home
we go and it better be at or slightly above the speed limit- can't allow the
ice cream to get soft or the milk to lose too much of the cold
temperature. It is a team effort to get the groceries into the kitchen
without delay. The task is done. I go back to the car and put
it in the garage, Lisa goes to the bathroom.
“From
time to time, I go to the base commissary alone. Do you think ‘her
system’ is at the forefront of my mind? Not a chance! The only
downside of me shopping alone is when I come home and there is often
an item or two on the counter that was not on ‘the list.’
"’Why did you buy that?’
Or, ‘Now we have FOUR boxes of that. Who is going to eat all of that
before it gets old or spoils?’
“Quick thinking me, ‘The item(s)
were on sale’ (I think).
“Keeping that ‘military bearing’
that may be lingering in her system since her last visit to the base, I usually
get a retort of some kind indicating a goof up of some magnitude, in a
loving way of course.
“If Lisa had been in the military,
there is no doubt that she would out rank me! In others words, she would
be ‘Sarge’ and I would be ‘Beatle Bailey’.
“On
the sobering side of life, I am most grateful that we can go to the store
together. There are more than just a few of my fishing and golf buddies who
are widowers - they always shop alone.
“I am looking forward to future
blogs. I am sure there will be another good one waiting for us when we
return from Sweden .
“Hope to see you this summer!
Take good care, each of you!”
Dave
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