Ever Cry at the Grocery Store?
Here's why I did in 300 or so words
I didn’t cry because organic carrot juice was $16 or artichokes were $5.99 each.
I didn’t whimper over the veteran without legs in the wheelchair feeling for ripe oranges. Ok. My eyes welled up and I thanked him for his service.
I didn’t cry over spilt milk.
I didn’t blubber because the women’s room was overrun with toilet paper on the floor along with used menstrual pads. I was angry. Ladies! Really? The toilet paper goes in the toilet and there’s a receptacle for your pads.
I didn’t bawl when I scanned my lottery ticket at the vending machine and there were no mechanical bugles indicating a win.
I didn’t wail along with that four-year-old whose mother wouldn’t let him plonk a chocolate bar in the wagon after he saw me tossing one in mine. (I soooo wanted to sneak him a square.)
But when I bought the birthday card for my dad I wailed audibly. He turned 90 in December and my sisters and I made him a party last week.
“You ok?” Said a Fred Meyer Grocery Store associate.
“You guys (sniffle sniffle) sell not just one birthday card for a 90-year-old but two! Two different styles. Bah-a.”
“Yes. We like to have choices.”
“They’re $5.69 each. Ba-ha.”
“I know. Cards are inflated.”
“That’s not why I’m crying. My dad… my dad can take walks and think clearly. He can still explain investing as my eyes glaze over at diversification. I didn’t know DEI was a thing in the stock market—“
“I don’t think that means—“
“I’m sobbing because my dad is alive. He’s okay! He’s okay!” I blubbered.
The Fred Meyer associate continued slapping on prices with her sticker machine.
I caught my breath, and when I wiped my nose with the back of my hand the associate said, “Tissues are on aisle 24.”
Did you ever sob in a public place?
What else is new?
I cried at Walgreens 3 weeks postpartum. I needed mascara. My dad kept running in from the car offering his credit card. He was so obsessed with his new grandson, he just really needed to express that by buying me whatever I wanted from Walgreens. I just wanted to be by myself. I couldn’t make a decision about lash defying or lash miracle length. My dad was being so nice but kind of annoying. So I just burst out crying right there in front of a mascara display. Very cathartic.
I loved this!!!!!! And yes you ARE blessed he's alive and well! 😊 My grandma lived to 94 and I always felt so grateful that we got to make each birthday a grand affair, never knowing if it would be her last.
To be a total downer, I'll answer your question about crying in a store. The situation was similar to yours in the card aisle at Walmart. I was there to buy one for my 8 year old grandson and right next to the grandson cards were the "Son" cards. I had bought son cards for 28 years...and then I didn't. Same as when I bought Mothers day flowers for the first time after he passed. Had a full blown meltdown in the flower store. I felt so bad for anyone working in a store I shopped at that first year lol.