A Trip to the Market

My mom and my aunt are visiting right now and a visit with my mom and my aunt will always include a trip to the market. Always. Not only do we love to cook and eat together but we love to shop together. Grocery shop. Call us crazy but we “window” shop at the grocery store like other women window shop at the mall.

My littlest guy is only in pre-school a few days a week so he is my grocery shopping buddy. He pushes the cart for me, crosses items off of the list for me and helps me find what I am looking for. We had so much fun taking grandma and Aunt Andi to our favorite store yesterday.

First stop, the pastry case. Nathan was given the very important task of picking out a dessert treat for himself and his brother and sister. A big responsibility. But a challenge he was most happy to accept.

So many choices.

In the end, it had to be the chocolate cupcakes.

Of course I had to get a picture of the chocolate croissants.

And the fruit tart. I love fruit tart but today, I’m just looking.

Next, cheese. We were shopping for the Greek salad we’d planned for dinner so I only needed Feta but it is always fun to look and imagine the possibilities contained within that deli case. On my aunt’s recommendation I also picked up some Myzithra. Delicious!

By this point, I had heard “lobsters mommy, lobsters” at least 10 times so, it was off to the lobster case.

Nathan loves to visit the lobsters. What five-year-old boy isn’t fascinated by the lobster tank?

As for me, the lilys in the floral department caught my eye.

No matter how busy I am, I always walk through the floral department. It makes me happy.

Question: Why is Nathan blurry? A) Because his mom is still working on her photography skills. B) Because his mom feels a little weird taking pictures in the grocery store and is trying to be quick and discrete. C) Because Nathan never stops moving. D) All of the above. Answer … oh, I think you know the answer.

Next, produce. By far my favorite. Truly. The colors alone captivate me. Grocery store poetry.

Next time you are in the produce aisle, try not to just race through and grab the bananas and bag of salad scribbled hastily on your list. For a moment, forget the list and take a little time to take it all in. Be inspired and realize how blessed you are. We have at our fingertips, health and wellness, variety, beauty and a reminder not only of God’s blessing and provision but of His wonderous creativity.

See what I mean? Color. Variety. Bounty. We are blessed.

When I’m ready to “check-out”, I always look for Debbie. She’s our favorite checker, Nathan usually spots her first and makes a beeline for her. She is always happy to see us, always remembers us and always has a smile for us. And on this trip, she let me take her picture.

Grocery shopping doesn’t have to be a chore or an errand or just one more thing to do. The grocery store can be a place where we spend time together as a family, laugh and imagine the possibilities, see really cool creatures up close, work on our big-boy skills, make connections and slow down just enough to see all that we have and remember just how fortunate we are.

Joy is where you find it.

By the way, we girls don’t just like to grocery shop. My sister gets into town this afternoon and we’ll be hitting the thrift and antique stores too. We may have to do that while Mr. Nathan is in school though; think “bull in a china shop”.

Oh, I almost forgot, I have an amazing Greek salad to tell you about. I promise I’ll do that soon!

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