Whole Foods Fantasies

I was walking in Whole Foods the other day, cruising the snack aisle, when I looked over and saw this woman with one of those half carts. You know the ones- for single, unencumbered people and old people who apparently don't eat enough to qualify for a large cart. In the interest of full disclosure, I , too, had one of the half carts but I had it because I was planning to pick up a total of three items in ten minutes, shopping in between other errands before I was expected to return to my family unit. Anyway, I saw this woman and glanced down in her cart. Tortillas... some cheese... a few pieces of fruit... a couple of cans... two containers of yogurt (not industrial size). Ahhhh, a single person. Boy, did it take me back. I was slammed with this just-yesterday feeling of Carefree Saturdays. I capitalize those words because they deserve that importance. At the time, and you don't know it at the time, those are moments to be treasured. I remember when I was single, living alone, a typical Saturday entailed one of two plans:

Plan A- a nice, long walk in the morning, followed by some planning of what kind of yummy food to cook for dinner (which, on a Saturday night, was a meal often savored in front of a good movie), followed by a trip to the grocery store, followed by maybe a nap, movie, or good book... or all three.

Plan B- a trip to the farmer's market (often on my bike) or the grocery store, an afternoon of made-for-TV movies, maybe a nice walk at the local nature center, an evening with friends, maybe an art opening or something.

Ahhhh, freedom. No responsibilities (to be addressed in a future post). Choices that can move with the wind. But life is all about rosy colored glasses, no? And I often think about my satisfaction level/happiness quotient would be if I was, 10 years later, still living out Plan A or Plan B. I venture to say it would have gotten old. And I have traded Carefree Saturdays for bike rides and playground trips and Pancake Sundays and "Mommy, I like you."

But a girl can still have her Whole Foods fantasies...