Why NOT to Grocery Shop While Your Parent is Dying
I went to the funeral home with my mother and brother last evening. I really didn't want to go and, frankly, I don't think my being there was of much use. My tastes are very different from either of them and I ultimately deferred to them. For me, all this is superfluous. Once Dad's no longer in his body, what does it MATTER what verse we have on the prayer cards, what the urn looks like or what kind of car we arrive at the funeral home in?
I needed milk and wanted mozzarella string cheese, so I drove to the nearby Shop-Rite when we were done. You know how they tell you not to grocery shop when you're hungry? I can tell you first-hand that shopping while in the middle of the grieving process is fraught with danger, too.
Comfort food. $45.00 worth of comfort food and comfort items. First stop, floral...hyacinths were on sale. Some purple ones, since purple was my sister, Lisa's, favorite color. Bakery was next. Can I tell you I don't think it's fair for them to direct the exhaust from the bakery into the parking lot? A six-pack of sticky buns. (When I showed them to Dad, his eyes lit up. He said he'd have one, softened in milk or cream, for breakfast. Unfortunately, he wasn't up to breakfast this morning.) Cocktail peanuts, two King-sized plain Hershey bars, Twining's Decaf Earl Grey tea, Cheez-its, cran-raspberry juice. Oh, and milk and string cheese sticks.
I also bought a set of little, plastic, glow-in-the-dark decals of stars and moons. I taped a few to the wall next to Dad's hospital bed. I then told him I'd given him "the moon and stars!" He smiled. I get my wit and corny sense of humor from my Dad. It's one of the things of which I am most proud. It's one of the things about my father that I will miss most. It will be bittersweet to come up with a really good quip. I owe it all to Dad.
Well, Dad didn't die last night. I went downstairs at 12:30 AM just to make sure God hadn't been TOO cruel. Now there's nobody else's birthday until my grandbaby is born. We're free and clear. I wonder if Dad made sure he didn't die on my birthday. He is just stubborn enough to do that, God love him.
I needed milk and wanted mozzarella string cheese, so I drove to the nearby Shop-Rite when we were done. You know how they tell you not to grocery shop when you're hungry? I can tell you first-hand that shopping while in the middle of the grieving process is fraught with danger, too.
Comfort food. $45.00 worth of comfort food and comfort items. First stop, floral...hyacinths were on sale. Some purple ones, since purple was my sister, Lisa's, favorite color. Bakery was next. Can I tell you I don't think it's fair for them to direct the exhaust from the bakery into the parking lot? A six-pack of sticky buns. (When I showed them to Dad, his eyes lit up. He said he'd have one, softened in milk or cream, for breakfast. Unfortunately, he wasn't up to breakfast this morning.) Cocktail peanuts, two King-sized plain Hershey bars, Twining's Decaf Earl Grey tea, Cheez-its, cran-raspberry juice. Oh, and milk and string cheese sticks.
I also bought a set of little, plastic, glow-in-the-dark decals of stars and moons. I taped a few to the wall next to Dad's hospital bed. I then told him I'd given him "the moon and stars!" He smiled. I get my wit and corny sense of humor from my Dad. It's one of the things of which I am most proud. It's one of the things about my father that I will miss most. It will be bittersweet to come up with a really good quip. I owe it all to Dad.
Well, Dad didn't die last night. I went downstairs at 12:30 AM just to make sure God hadn't been TOO cruel. Now there's nobody else's birthday until my grandbaby is born. We're free and clear. I wonder if Dad made sure he didn't die on my birthday. He is just stubborn enough to do that, God love him.
posted by Cheryl at
3/07/2006 06:21:00 PM
2 Comments:
Hey hun, cant begin to imagine how hard it is to avoid comfort food at a time right now. However I admire the fact that you managed to purchase Earl Grey Tea! And Decaf at that, how very virtuous for you! Was that perchance an effort at negating the other stuff? I'm glad you Dad is still holding on, and I'm also glad that he taught you your wit, its one of the many things I love about you! Well that and the fact you now have sticky buns! Please save me one! Okay yep it may well be stale by the time I get over the pond but who cares. And the moon and the stars was a lovely thing to do. :-)
By
Moley123, at March 08, 2006 8:49 AM
Thanks, Moley! And belated happy birthday...you'll get a card someday...I swear you will!
By
Cheryl, at March 13, 2006 9:11 PM
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