It's Not About the Groceries...

About two years ago, S and I sat in our professional counselors' office; and I remember him saying very clearly, "It's not about getting the dishes washed, it's about the conversation that happens while you're washing them." I suppose I should back up a bit... I'm a bull in a china closet. That's how I attack most household chores... get them done, get them done 99% well, and 100% quickly. Speed over accuracy, for the most part; although not enough to look neglected and half-done. My favorite person in the world that I live with, S, is accuracy over speed. He's a 100% over 50% kind of guy. Methodical is how we describe it in our house. This was disconcerting to me about 2 years ago... it drove me nuts. I just wanted the chore done; and at my preferred speed. So, it was the topic at the counselor's... he wanted us to enjoy the time together standing around the sink; and not worry about the task at hand.
And so... last night, we hit the grocery store together. Honestly, I think the last time we did any major grocery shopping together was maybe the weekend we moved to Hastings. Maybe! But the shelves were empty, the fridge was bare and my husband was claiming starvation! We made our list, grabbed our reusable grocery bags and hit the road. We did arrived at the store without our list (never fear, Wife is visual!) We went through each aisle; sometimes one arriving back at the cart with an armload of stuff while one other was still staring at which canned veggies to purchase... but in an hour's time, we had successfully filled the cart to overflowing and arrived at the checkout. With only one thing missing: bagels, which was discovered this morning.
Huge thanks to a gift card from Christmas, we barely broke the bank, headed home to put everything away and poof... groceries were put away, S felt much safer in the house and I went to the computer, as I heard a mouse getting into the chips immediately! He was content. He knew the house had food, he would not starve; and we had an enjoyable evening that had nothing to do with the stress/chore of getting groceries; but rather enjoyed the time together!