What if my parents did name me Stephanie ... I don't think I look much like a Stephanie ... If I was named Stephanie would I have blonde hair ...Then I almost missed the light and quickly went back to my #deepthoughts as I was getting ready to park. Which was an internal debate over whether I should get gas before grocery shopping or after. Which if you must know, never happened because I forgot. I found a spot that was far enough away from the door to STILL GET THEM STEPS IN and yet close enough to the door so that I could scream if I was being attacked and someone would hear OR that I could run back inside if I noticed someone hiding under my car who was going to slit my Achilles tendon with a knife as I got in the car. This would quickly progress to my kidneys being cut out. Blood would be everywhere. All in the Kroger parking lot. In broad daylight. Because #anxietygirl.
Anyway, during my grocery shopping I was pleasantly surprised by how calm and polite everyone was despite the store being extremely crowded. People were very patient with me as I was staring blindly into the produce searching for shallots. Why can't all Kroger's be laid out the same? For the love!! I even gave myself a little scavenger hunt and tried to find the pomegranates!! Which was fruitless ehhh??? Y'all like that!! Because y'all it's impossible to find something when you can barely spell it and you have no idea what it looks like. The neat thing was that the gal who bagged my groceries was having a little fun of her own when she took each of my onions out of the produce bag and placed each one into a bag with either canned goods or bread or cereal?? My personal early Christmas present though was that upon exit all the carts were returned to the cart return my pet peeve and I think the one true indicator whether someone is a jerk or not.
Why all this positivity you ask? Why all this train of thought? Well, I knew going into the Holiday season that this year was going to be a lot different from those in the past and not just for the obvious we're in Texas and family is in Virginia reasons. As some of you know I had a hysterectomy in early December. There was supposed to be not a lot of recovery but I've experienced some complications that are still on going. This has prevented a lot of traditions that have been going strong for 28 years to not be able to happen and I hate it. The older we get, we realize how fragile life is. How short time is. And how important family is. My Dad and I have been going out shopping together on Christmas Eve since I was 10 years old. That didn't happen this year and I hate it so much. I miss them so much. But, what's been amazing is having framily to help us through the hard and weird and new. Framily that is just as precious to me and my family as if they were blood related. They have taken away a lot of the new and different and kept it as new and familiar and special and full of just as much love and gratitude as if we were home. We are very lucky, very fortunate and love that our hearts are always in two places.
So, this Christmas and New Year love your family and framily hard. They will help you pick up the pieces when you need them the most. And maybe, just maybe they can also show you what a pomegranate looks like!! XOXO
Also, since no one asked, a good Resolution for 2020 is to stop calling Kroger, Krogers. And if you have $0.10 to call it 10 cents not 10 cent. You're welcome.
