Cell phones and grocery shopping ... go hand in hand

Thank you, Lord, I don't have to do grocery shopping today. That's the thought currently running through my mind. Just as I was sort of preparing myself to make the list and the trip, the phone rang. It was the teen on the other end, asking about anything we might need from the grocery.

Well yes .... we need lots. But his tone said, "Dad means 'short grocery stop, not big.' So I rattled off necessities like milk, hamburger buns for tonight's dinner and regular potatoes if anyone wanted something other than grilled sweet potatoes. Also asked him to check out the avocados. Teen quickly repeated the items, again intonating, "that's all, right?" Right.

About five minutes later, the phone rings for an avocado discussion. It's the husband this time.

"The avocados aren't ripe, is that okay? They're still hard."

"Well, I'd like to make some guacamole tonight. I've got one avocado that needs to be used before it goes bad. Are there any that might be somewhat ripe?" He and I have different definitions of ripe for avocados, but that's an argument ... um ... discussion ... we've learned to just avoid.

"Okay, I'll look."

So I'm turning the radio back up. Oh wait, he's at the grocery outlet that always has bacon on sale. I call the teen's phone. That's the one they're using. The husband's phone is some cheap version of a toy phone he found on ebay for $7. He swears it's a good deal, but I usually can't hear him due to all the scratching noises coming through the receiver. Funny, he says, how it only happens on my phone. Funny, I reply, how I never have that problem with anyone else's phone.

"Check out the bacon. See what they've got on sale there today, especially if it's the thick-sliced, center cut. Get two of those."

I know this is not the last phone call. There will be at least one more, either updating me on the availability of bacon or asking about the brand. That phone call surely came. It was about the lack of any decent bacon there today.

I'm trying to remember what we used to do when we went to the grocery store before the advent of cell phones. Before the opportunity to instantly ask and be answered.  I guess we made up our own mind. We either bought it, or we didn't.

Interesting how my thoughts about not having to do 'big groceries' ended up about cell phones and groceries. But, in this day and time, at least at our household, it takes both a list and a cell phone for any kind of grocery shopping. I bet we're not alone.