There are those things one has to do every week.
Laundry. Meal planning. Lately, reviewing what’s been going on in my area to see if any of it might be interesting to go and explore.
And buying groceries, of course.
Every single week. Working out the weights of meat we’ll need. Checking to see if we need more mustard or if I really need to get more red pepper flakes (spoiler: I almost certainly do not, as the last time I bought these I came home to discover I had an entire, untouched jar that I had somehow completely failed to notice.) How is the remaining supply of sugar? Flour? Paper goods?
Every single week, I plan out meals and make a list and double-check: do I have something in mind for every single meal? Are there too many instances of the same protein? Too many dinners in a row where we’d be eating rice?
Every single week, I take a cart and work my way up and down the aisles, checking off items from the list as I go. I pass the deli and collect a little shaved ham, not too much, just a couple of hundred grams. I fish a bundle of cilantro or parsley from a densely-packed lawn of the stuff, each little bunch sitting upright in water that spatters icily onto my arm as I flick it dry. I heft a lemon, feeling for weight; pick out a handful of crisp-looking brown mushrooms, checking each for tight, creamy gills.
Occasionally, there will be the Schrodinger’s-cat of produce hurdles to clear: picking out an avocado that stands the best chance of being ripe at just the right time. (Spoiler, again: It will almost certainly not be, but we will make do as always.)
Eventually, all of this will come with me to the register, where I will exchange money for it, attempt to load it all into various reusable shopping bags, return the cart to a proper spot for collection (because I am not a monster), and then it comes home with me, and next week we will do it all again.
You see, last time I went looking for reusable bags I decided I wanted something a bit more…fun. Livelier. I am, after all, being a responsible adult by going to the store every week – so why not have a little fun with it? And somewhere amid the sea of sensible black and navy-blue and classic stripes and polka dots and the occasional floral-block print I found a three-pack of bags that were Hello Kitty themed.
Bright. Colorful. Rather cute. Perfect! I bought them and have been taking them to collect groceries every week ever since.
I don’t know what it says about the world that I get such a volume of comments on these, but they are real conversation-starters with cashiers. Admittedly it’s usually the same conversation – “Oh, these are cute!” “Thanks! I figure I might as well have some fun with them, you know?” – but it’s still easily more positive commentary than I think I have ever received on a thing I carry about with me.
A couple of weeks ago, as I unpacked these for a cashier at a grocery, I instead got a version of this conversation where I got to hear all about a Hello Kitty fan in that person’s life – a funny, simple little moment of random connection with someone that I like to think improved the day a little for both of us.
It’s the little things, I suppose.