Saturday Grocery Shopping

Saturdays are when I do the bulk of my shopping since I work during the week and usually am at the school pretty late. I have found that the things I love about shopping are the encounters I make with other shoppers. I love to people watch but you have to be careful that it doesn't appear to be staring. Smiling helps this. When I make eye contact I try to smile and I almost always get a smile in return. This past Saturday I was in Aldi's (thank God for that store!) and was waiting for an older man to move past the eggs so I could get some and was trying to practice patience and just wait for him to get done. He sensed me waiting and said, "Are you waiting for me to move?" "Oh, you're fine!" I said so as not to be rude. He looked down a second and then popped his head back up when I said that and replied, "Well, you're not too bad yourself!" I laughed and thanked him. Love those brief meetings with people. As I made my way to the front to pay, I was in line behind a cute older couple trying to get everything from their cart. A box of Kleenex fell on the floor inbetween their cart and the counter. The little lady moved the cart and her husband slowly lowered himself to the ground to retrieve the box, obviously having some trouble bending but made it. He stood back up and looked at me and said, "Now I know what giraffs feel like!" I laughed and agreed with him. "You ever seen a giraff get water?" "Yes I have; they have to spread out their legs to get lower." He laughed and agreed with me.

You see, I've found that the older generation still takes time to make small talk with strangers, whether it's hitting on someone or joking about their body, but I enjoy it. I think we've forgotten how to do this. We get so rushed to just get our stuff and leave, we forget to smile at the little boy in the cart with his mom, help someone pick up spilled items, be patient for another person to move, or give someone our cart at Aldi...quarter and all. I call these random acts of kindness and it's through these small things that we can show the love of Christ. Do it. I enjoy grocery shopping so much more.