Chance encounters in the grocery store

I was doing a final round of the fruit aisle on my weekly grocery shopping trip when I ran into someone I hadn’t seen since last spring’s flu shot.

“Pam!” I said in surprise.

“Liz!” She replied.

We stood there and grinned at each other the way you do when it’s someone you like but you don’t know all that well.

“I’m enjoying your blog,” she said.

“Ah, thank you, I was thinking of skipping it this month. I haven’t missed one yet but…”

“No, you can’t!”  she interjected. “I look forward to it. It’s the highlight of my month.”

“Even when I write about uncomfortable things?”

“Especially those things,” she replied laughing.

My step was lighter as I walked away. I love getting positive feedback, it inspires me to keep on writing. I am writing the kind of content that I want to read and as Pam is around my age, she is whom I write for.

I had planned on letting the blog go this month. I am immersed in revising and polishing my up coming book to send to my editor for a narrative review and the work has consumed all my creative energies. The book is important, but this blog is so much fun to write, I know I can squeeze out a little more!

So, Pam, this ones for you.

Have you ever thought how grocery shopping is like the long-ago days when the women gathered at the communal well? It was usually the women who walked with their children to the well and washed the clothes and talked and gossiped and kept that thread of community happening and knew who was okay and who wasn’t.

If that’s a stretch, think about the weekly village market, the social day of the week where women put on their best clothes, mingled with their friends and neighbours, bought vegetables and goods for their families and caught up on the latest town news.

I know, men shop too, of course they do, and our society is different than the old village days, but we are more the same than you think. When I shop, once a week, I dress a little better, still casual wear, and I always run into someone I know and have an uplifting conversation. Often it is someone whom I haven’t seen in ages, such as my old friend Connie, and we do the Liz? Connie? dance. At first not sure, and then the years fall away and we have a heart warming catch-up.

As it happened, I ran into Connie the same day I ran into you Pam and it hit me… we underestimate the value of a grocery store. Not only does the store, in this case, our local Country Grocer, provide groceries, it also offers community, a feeling of belonging and of being known. It almost raises grocery shopping to a spiritual level, where our senses are stimulated by perfect piles of shiny red apples and we marvel at the bounty of food. We are all on a even playing field as we push our carts around piles of stock waiting to be shelved as we mumble at the rising costs.

The warm glow I feel after re connecting with friends, old and new softens the blow of the checkout total. My wish is that we all extend that warm feeling to the hard-working people in the store. A smile goes a long way.

Thank you, Pam for the inspiration!

Just so you know, this is a No Frills post as I am writing at the blog post deadline, due to my previously mentioned book manuscript that is awaiting in the wings. No Frills meaning I have no relevant photos to grace the blog. But you can visualize women blocking the aisles as they talk, and talk. Don’t you just love us?

love from your Island Crone.

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~ Island Crone by Liz Maxwell Forbes