Thursday, January 21, 2021

Shopping Reluctance


After a recent 3 week stay at home without needing supplies, I reluctantly acquiesced to venturing out and refilling our larder. There's no home delivery of fresh produce or refrigerated items where we're located, so I needed to drive to a grocery store. Plus, I was going to pick up a pharmacy script at the same time (or so I thought), the saga of which I have already shared.

What amazed me, was my reluctance to go on an outing! Even after having spent weeks at home without leaving, I wanted to stay home instead! I'm not only intent on reducing my exposure to COVID 'opportunities,' but I also loathe the chore of buying groceries. Yes, it's really nice to have fresh items, and a full fridge again, but it still isn't something I look forward to doing, even when I can come home with luxuries and delicious things, like sweet, juicy oranges that taste heavenly after doing without. The relentless process of packing and unpacking the groceries so many times always seems mindlessly repetitive and comical to me - 

-pick individual things off a shelf 
-place them in a cart,
-remove said items from cart at checkout,
-place purchased items back into cart,
-remove items from cart, 
-load them into car,
-remove items from car,
-place into storage cabinets

This is how I like to do my shopping: at home. I'm not referring to the Shopping Channel on TV, but instead, the opportunity to fetch extra supplies from our downstairs pantry. It's nice to be able to go down to my basement to do some 'shopping' from my downstairs larder for things I start running short of. My very own Home Shopping Basket!


I propose that in future we find a way to put groceries into a cart (either actually or virtually), and then have them teleported into our kitchens for us .. it's much more practical and efficient, don't you think?

Besides my disdain for the chore at hand, I was intrigued to discover that, I wasn't needing to 'be out' or have other people to interact with. I didn't feel that I was starved of human contact, and grateful for an opportunity to be with other people. Maybe I'm more of a hermit than I ever knew - I'm happy and content at home. I'm comfortable. I do what I want to do - I'm in control! I don't feel starved of human company and social interaction. Is that unusual and disturbing - or am I just weird?


6 comments:

Shelley Burbank said...

Well...you did just spend a lot of time with the orthodontist so maybe that was all you needed for outside human contact, lol. Can't you order and have curb-side pickup from some grocery stores?

Debbie said...

Oops, I posted my stories in the wrong order - the shopping event took place before the dentist outing, actually.
And yes, driving to stores in Portland would allow me to do curbside pickup. Our local Hannaford is making changes to their store (again) to allow for on line ordering and curbside pickup!

Shelley Burbank said...

Ah, that makes sense. And good about local Hannaford!

Debbie said...

Agreed - I'm always astounded at how much money is spent on making changes.

Georgette said...

That's great news. I didn't know about "our" Hannaford's plan for curbside pick up. Yay!!! Can hardly wait to try it.

Debbie said...

I know, Georgette - very exciting. I don't know what the time line is, though.