Dancing in grocery stores...

I really dislike grocery stores.

Shopping in general really doesn’t turn me on. But, shopping for groceries and playing hide and go seek with the little things that are scribbled on my list can drive me kinda nuts.

I go into system-overload-zone.

For one, I don’t need to look at 6 different kinds of granola, thanks. I’m looking to buy one box.

Same goes for orange juice. You’ve got calcium enriched, or some organic-raw-healthy-vegan thing or fresh squeezed or concentrate? You’ve got “just-a tiny-bit-of-pulp” vs. “slightly-more-than-a-tiny-bit-of-pulp-but-less-than-pulpy.” And then I’ll see that one is on sale… for something dumb like buy 6 bottles get the next ½ bottle free. (Yes, I am being dramatic).

Gaah! Just give me the OJ and I’ll be on my way.

So, with my last trip to the dreaded-too-brightly-lit-too-many-labels-grocery-store, I attempted to change my attitude.

I challenged myself to find JOY in the grocery store. We’re going a joy hunt.

The goal? Find joy, bring joy, deliver joy… While simultaneously finding the edible things written on my sticky note list.

Joy.

Found joy when I offered the mini-van-mom the closer parking space, even though I (technically) got there first. Found joy when I rolled the lonely-forgotten-shopping-cart left in the road back to his friends at the entrance. When I smiled back at the man putting grapefruit on the shelf and responded to his hello with a genuine-I’m-paying-attention-to-you-and-I-think-you-are-important-kind-of- hello. When I noticed just how yellow a yellow-squash can be. Found heaps of joy as the mist-storm came to mist the fruits and veggies and a little one raced to catch the mist in his hand. (I’ve certainly been that kid). I still try to time it so that I can catch the mist… Who doesn’t love a good thunder-storm in the produce section?

By this point, I was smiling. Shocked by how much I was enjoying the place. Joy started to bubble up everywhere.

Joy sitting in the green grapes. In the kiwi fruit fuzz. (What a neat texture, ya know?).  Joy in the man carefully slicing deli meat. Sliced-perfectly-thin. Joy jumped out as I helped a mom pick up a box of goldfish that had fallen from her cart.

Eyes kept opening, joy was everywhere.

I saw some joy in the flowers. And goofy valentine’s day cards. And in the way the text is written on the labels of Almond Milk. Joy in the way something purple and sticky had stained the tile floor. It has splattered perfectly onto one tile square. Heard joy in the way my shoe sounded as I stepped out of the sticky mess. SHHRRRRPPPPT.

So much joy in those shiny tile floors. Everyone knows that grocery store floors were made for dancing on. And if you don’t have a partner to dance with… you’ve got a freakin’ shopping cart with wheels for goodness sake! Quit complaining and start dancing.

In a matter of 15 minutes, my joy-less-dread-of-shopping-attitude had transformed into a joy-FULL-dancing-behind-the-squeeky-shopping-cart-way-of-living.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to shopping again next week.

Have a great day ya’ll.

-Sara

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