Moldy Grapefruit and My Parents

Dallas and I hadn't been to the grocery store since before our trip. All I had in this house to eat was a moldy grapefruit and a can of tomato sauce. Neither tasty nor nutritious.

D is coaching Lily's softball team and had a game, so he went to that and I went to the dreaded grocery store. Alone. (Side note: Hey! Retired people! Why do you wait until I'm off work to go grocery shopping? What are you doing all day? Is it really necessary to wait until 5:00 sharp to slowly stroll through every single aisle directly in front of me?!)

Anywho. I go and I load up on everything and am again reminded why you don't skip grocery shopping duty. It costs approximately 70 kazillion dollars to restock the kitchen. The back of my relatively expansive truck is piled high with my goods, and it takes me three trips to get it all onto the island to then get everything in their respective homes. Whew.

Now when I'm checking out and my goodies are being bagged, I try really hard to keep everything with their buddies to make unloading easier. Produce goes with produce, frozen stuff goes with frozen stuff, delicious bags of double stuff Oreo's goes with the economy sized bag of Hershey's miniatures.

So I'm in the process of putting everything away when I realize I am in a PANIC. I can't get it put away fast enough, plus my OCD kicks in and everything has to go into the fridge and pantry juuuuuust right. I stop to examine myself and my anxiety attack.

Then the light bulb goes off.

My mother is to blame for this! Of course! I'm freaked out because the fridge door is standing open. I'm letting all the cold air out! My utility bill will be through the ever-loving roof! Growing up, my poor mother never slept through an entire night because she could hear the fridge kick on and it worried her that something was wrong. Then she'd hear the air conditioning start to blow and she'd worry about the upcoming bill. Then she'd hear the wind blowing and she'd worry that a tornado was coming to blow us all away. And the organizing on the grocery-store-conveyor-belt-dealie? That's her doing too!

Today is the 32nd anniversary of her being married to my dad. Who doesn't worry about any of this. Because he doesn't have to, because he's married to Mom. (Don't get me wrong. Dad is a worrier too, just not about this type of stuff. More about the type of stuff I tend to worry about too. I'm sure you'll all have the pleasure of reading about our neuroses in future posts. Our family motto is "Just take a Xanny"... Goooo Stearmans!)

I know this sounds weird, but putting the groceries away tonight made me once again stop and send a prayer of thanks up for my folks. Their worry and anxiety just stems from wanting to do well in life. I've never known better people. I've never seen two so in love. Never seen such respect and friendship. What a lesson they've taught me just by being themselves and enjoying their marriage. I've always hoped for something similar... and thanks to them, I fully understand and appreciate what Dallas and I have.

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!