Everybody talks about the weather

 Our weather has been very interesting the last few days, and I saw it "up close and personal" Friday.  Let's start with Thursday, though.  We saw the weather forecast that foretold a snow storm coming.  We weren't desperate for food; we never are.  If we're out of bread I can make some in the bread machine.  If we're out of milk, I have powdered whole milk in the cupboard.  I wouldn't want it on my cereal, but it's fine for cooking purposes.  So why would we make a trip to a Blue Springs grocery store?  

Bargains, that's why.  Considering it's twenty-five miles to Price Chopper in Blue Springs, they don't have any prices that truly make it worth the trip for us, but we've been housebound so much lately, I'm ready to go anyplace Cliff is willing to take me.  We weren't doing anything else, and Cliff said he didn't mind.  Just before we got to our destination, I realized I didn't have my billfold; I'd gotten it out of my purse to hunt up my Medicare card that morning, laid it down beside me, and forgotten to put it back in my purse.  Money wasn't the problem.  Cliff always carries a nice little stash of cash with him.  But in order to get those great bargains, I needed my Chopper Shopper card.  It was at home in my billfold, twenty-five miles away.

"Maybe they can look me up on the computer," I said.  "I'll go on in and see what I can do."

I asked an employee about it and he said, "Oh, that's no problem.  Just tell them your phone number and you'll be fine."

Right then, when he said this, I couldn't help but wonder how long the phone number they had on file had been there.  I couldn't recall ever changing a phone number at Price Chopper, and I've had Chopper Shopper cards for years.  What if it was our old land-line number?  But I'm no negative nelly, so I assumed everything would work out for the best.  I put all those wonderful bargains in my cart and went to the checkout, where I found out that sure enough, I didn't know the number they had on file.  I don't remember any of my old numbers.  The lady said, "We can put your cart in the cooler if you want to go home and come back."

I told her where we lived, and she agreed that wasn't an option.  I went in Aldi's and got a couple of items with Cliff's money and we headed home.

That evening the forecast hadn't changed:  There was a huge storm coming, with plenty of snow.  Friday morning around 9 AM, Cliff asked if I wanted to go to Price Chopper; there's one at Grain Valley, which is a little closer than Blue Springs.  "Really?  You are willing to go again?  What about the weather forecast?"

"It isn't snowing.  We'll go now and get home before the snow hits." 

So away we went, on a mission that really made little sense.  One reason Cliff was so willing to go was that I had chili made, and he was really wanting some Fritos for chili pie.  Fritos were $1.79 a bag.  Yes, you had to buy five bags, but they stay fresh for ages until you open them.  Oh yes, and Oreos were $1.99 if I bought five packages.  I always stock up on them so I can make everybody's favorite dessert (Oreo Delight) for family gatherings. 

We hadn't gotten five miles from home when we drove into a snowstorm.  It was like a white-out!  We got within sight of Price Chopper and saw the parking lot packed with cars.  We should have turned around and gone home right then, but no.  If the parking lot didn't scare me, the lines at the checkouts should have, because those lines went way back into the aisles.  I said to an employee, "Is everything gone?"  "Well," she said, "if you want bread or milk, you'd better hurry back there and get it; it's going fast."  

Every time I'd glance out the window in front of the store, I saw the snow really coming down hard.  I grabbed a couple of the wonderful bargains, but when I got to the Fritos, there were only two bags left, and I needed five to get that cheapest price.  Oh, and those two bags were jalapeno flavor, which I'd never tried.  Even though it was a strange flavor, and even though I would probably be paying over three bucks for a bag, I grabbed one, because that was the main item Cliff was worried about.  This whole trip was turning out to be a disaster.  

I went to the end of one of the long, long lines, quite frustrated.  I had a little pep talk with myself.  You know, stuff like, "Well, you can't do anything about it, so stop fretting."

(But I could have done something.  I could have turned and walked out the minute I saw the crowd in the store.)

A man ahead of me seemed to know me, so we visited a little.  This happens to me all the time:  Some friendly person will seem to know me, but all I can figure out is that the person is vaguely familiar.  That's because I don't look at people, so I never recognize anyone.  Besides, maybe the guy was just friendly.  But when it came his time to check out and he gave them his phone number, it was a Lexington number.  He probably knew me, might even be someone from the tractor club.  I'll never know.  

Then a woman in a line several registers down waved, calling me by name.  This person didn't even look familiar to me!  We hollered back and forth a couple of times about the weather, but I had no idea who she was.  One thing about it, she was friendly.

(Later a cousin's daughter told me on Facebook, "It was good seeing you in the long line at my Price Chopper this morning.  What an adventure!"  Now I feel better about not knowing who she was!  I don't think I've ever met her face to face; her mom goes to the family reunions, but she doesn't.)

I told the lady at the cash register, "I'm going to say a prayer for you folks working here.  Your customers get to go on home, but you have to be here with these never-ending lines of grumpy people all day long."

When I stepped out into the storm, I realized we'd gotten at least two inches of snow in the forty-five minutes or so I'd been inside, and it was coming down so hard and fast it was scary.  It was a slow drive home on back roads, trust me.  Cliff hung onto the steering wheel and said very little.  It took us, I'm sure, at least forty-five minutes to get home from Grain Valley.  We walked into the house around 11:15 AM, about the same time a terrible pileup of vehicles occurred a few miles away on I-70 in which one woman lost her life.

We always have a good supply of food here, and we've laughed at the crazy people who run to the store at the mention of bad weather.  This was the first time I've ever experienced such a mess.  I assure you it will never happen again.

The jalapeno Fritos were pretty good in our chili pies, though.  I'll be buying them often.

All told, I believe we got four or five inches of snow.

Full of gratitude (and who knows what else), I remain...
Donna