Simple Joys

After a marathon lawn mowing day, I tottered painfully through the grocery store with Brad. I was so exhausted and sore, I 'pushed' the cart - or hung onto it so I wouldn't sag to the ground - while Brad retrieved items from the shelves, loaded up the groceries at the counter and filled up the trunk with our weekly supplies.

But it was a joyful shopping experience for me. I had enough money in my wallet to cover what we needed. Not only that, Brad told me he had enough money in his wallet to cover what we needed. If this had been five years ago, we would have been pooling whatever money we had left over from keeping our noses above water. We would have had a brief discussion about upcoming things we might need to hold back some of the grocery money to cover.

Then we would have gone up and down the aisles, putting some things in the cart while I added every cent and rounded it up to cover tax at the end. As we neared our limit, we would retrace our steps and put items back in favor of something more critical.

Even then, I was grateful that we were still able to buy our own food. And that I had a mom who kept making delicious dishes for four when she was only cooking for two, giving us the leftovers (which she still does. She doesn't know how to cook for less than family size.)

But today, as I limped along, not having to add things up as we went, as the cashier rang up our purchases and I didn't have to nervously watch the subtotal in case I had to ask her to take something off the order, I sighed happily inside many times over.

Going out on a Saturday night with my husband to get groceries may not sound like a joy, but tonight it felt sublime.