Let's Go Shopping

I have a love/hate relationship with shopping of any kind. The only way I can tolerate any of it is if I have a list to work from. I have to know exactly what I am there to do. No window shopping. No guessing games.


In...and out. Quickly.


I sometimes wonder if this makes me less than a true female. At least according to the stereotyped imagery.


Whatever...I don't care about that.


But, here is what I do care about.


At HEB this afternoon, I realized that I love running into people I know while I am shopping. I love chatting, even though our "chats" ofttimes go deep and result in blocked shopping carts, impeding the shopping capabilities of other shoppers trying to get through their lists. With a smile and sincere apology, I can avoid incurring the wrath of my fellow shoppers. There have been many times when I have run to the store for one or two items, only to return home over an hour later, due only to "running into people" I know.


I love mentally checking off items on my list. It represents success, completion, a task laid to rest.


I love perusing the variety, even while that same excess of choices befuddles and confuses me. Not to mention challenges my wallet. After all, how many types of olive oil, jeans, cereal, salad dressings, or black boots does one need? And at what cost?

Being a shoe horse, I can understand the black boots part...but the cereal. Really?


But, with every positive, there is a negative. True here as well. Yin and yang....black and white...


I hate grocery shopping on Sundays or before holidays in the same way I hate the mall during the same time periods. I hate the excess volume of shoppers, their intensity, and the resulting rude and selfish behavior, particularly in the parking lots and lame attempts to squeeze past each other in the aisles.


I hate not having a list. This does not really apply to grocery shopping, because I always have a list for this, but more for going to the mall. I think window-shopping is a complete waste of time, particularly if I am starved for cash. This is becoming a more frequent situation. If I can't buy what I find, why waste time shopping at all.


I hate forgetting something on my list and having to go back to the store. This feeling is intensified if I am already in the middle of preparing my meal.


I hate fighting for parking places. Just like shopping on Sundays, people can be excessively selfish and rude. I don't even think they truly understand how their negative intensity affects other people.


I don't like shopping of any kind. I like it alot more when I have money to spend. But, whether I have money or not, it is a necessity. My goal is to just make sure I can do it in a way that is somehow fortifying and as relaxing as possible.