Shopping- Creativity out of Boredom

                                                                   (Humor?)

For some time, I have realized that I find myself shopping with my wife frequently and voluntarily, yet usually with some reservation in the way it turns out. I get bored while she is still going forth full steam. So what is the answer? I have found my creativity of ideas kicks in the longer I have to wait until she appears ready to leave the store. This happens most frequently at Menards or Walmart's, where fortunately they have a seat past the check-out clerks, just as if they might be set up for persons in my situation. So here are some ideas that have spawned in my mind as I have sat occasionally in this locale of patient meditation when I am not really interested in shopping any more, or after I just tag along.

 As I was walking with Loretta through Kroger store for the first time since we came back from Belize, and continually having to urge her on, I had the feeling that it is dangerous for her to be in a big store with me. Not only that she might be tempted to buy something by inspiration, but that she might lag behind and I would not be able to find her for a while as happened several days ago at a Walgreen store. There I looked down every aisle twice without locating her. Of course she might also want to buy something on impulse, and that would then place us in double jeopardy, risk losing both her and our money. O well, we will likely get used to these big dangerous places sooner or later.

 Sometimes as I am moving along I realize that she is no longer with me. I have reminded her of what happened to Lot's wife when she looked backward. She is not exactly pleased with that, but how can we go where we want to go, and when I want to go?  As we look through all the sale papers, I am quite sure we would save more  if we would not go for bargains and just buy what we need. Last night we needed milk and so we went to two grocery stores and spent over $14.00. Remember, we just needed milk.  Seems I have lost the lust for luxuries, “shopping", and splurging.    Nov. 7, 2010

We were going down the aisles at Menards when a man came along; and noticing that we had only one small item in a big cart, he mentioned as he walked by me that I likely will need a bigger cart for all that. Without thinking, I bounce back with “I wish I had a bigger cart so I could lie down in it as my wife does her shopping.” The man laughed as he went his way and later, Loretta also had the good humor to laugh at my spontaneous remark in that store.                                                 May 23, 2012

As I sat on a hard seat while Loretta was continuing shopping at Walmart, I thought of writing to the manager that shopping is so exciting for women that they should have a room where men could sleep while women continue shopping. Probably it would be a good investment as women would feel free to shop as long as they pleased without husbands on their backs to quit shopping. 7-4-2012

Probably some ideas are so bizarre they barely merit the ink required to record them, still they flash through my mind at times. Like at Walmart today, like usual, she was much more enthused to spend time there than I was, like a child expecting a day at the zoo to observe all the variety of animals; while I felt more like locked in a cage while she gazes about. Or in pushing a big cart at Menards, I just felt we could save a lot of time if she just sat in the cart as I pushed it around to the things we needed- according to my interests. The cart at least would have been big enough.

              

Another time when I was ready to check out, she lagged behind and then sped off on another excursions to buy something and I was left standing there in line, wishing I had a chair to rest in until she returns. Why can’t stores accommodate old people better than that, especially older people with wives with much greater enthusiasm for endless shopping?

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As epic simile: Like a child excitedly roving all over in a day at a zoo, oblivious of the flight of time while the parent just wishes the “day” would end sooner but had no other course but to tag along the whole while, so I felt when we were at Walmart and she wanted to stay much longer than I did and there was little I could do to shorten our time there, but to just bide my time until she was ready to go.                 

So what do I do while I feel caged in? Well, today I watched the people go by and noted how overweight many were; almost all were women. So I estimated how much they were overweight- like 10, 20, or 30 pounds, totaling the amounts as they passed before me:   480 pounds in the first 5 minutes. There might be more edifying activity when I am waiting, but at least it gave me something to do. I tried to be kind and generous in my judgments. I just hope no reader will look back and mark this day as beginnings of senility.                                                                                       August 16, 2012