Somehow, I have seriously hurt my back. I think it started as a pinched nerve, and has moved to the muscles from trying to compensate. I have slept in a recliner the last two night, unable to lay flat or on my side. I have woken up screaming in pain from a sudden stabbing sensation going from my neck to my waist. I have dreaded burping, coughing, or even breathing deep, which triggers such a painful spasm that I cry out. I have taken Advil around the clock since Friday night.
And I had to go to the grocery store today.
There really just wasn't any way around it. I haven't been for three weeks, so the pantry and fridge were more than sparse. Plus, I hadn't done any of my shopping for Turkey Day this week, aside from a few cans of chicken broth and pumpkin earlier in the month when they were on sale.
Since I couldn't come up with a good dinner plan that involved chicken broth and canned pumpkin as the two main ingredients, I gave in and made my shopping list. It was a doozie, so I reorganized it to hopefully run parallel with how the store is laid out, making the trip a little less fretful.
Then, I enlisted help. The 11-year old usually groans if I tell him he needs to come with me to the grocery store, but today was a little different. I explained that my back was very sore and that I needed him to help me push the cart, grab things from the shelf, load and unload the car, and even put the groceries away once we got home.
He didn't say anything for a moment, and I could see the turmoil in his eyes- "Holy crap I don't want to do all that!" and "I want to help my Mom because I know she doesn't feel good".
I decided to make it a little more bearable by paying him $5 per hour that he helped me. That perked him up quite a bit. On the way to the grocery I told him about a friend of mine who used to give her teenage son the grocery list and cash money that was budgeted for that week. He was told that he had to get everything on the list, but whatever was left over was his to keep.
That got a spark in his step. "Really? Can we do that today?"
I explained that I didn't think he was quite ready for that, but we would use this trip as a practice session to learn how to compare prices, look at food labels for nutritional value, and use coupons to our advantage.
We started walking into the store where he commandeered a cart and asked for me to hand him the list.
He was amazing. He hung in there for almost two hours, and actually said he was enjoying himself. He learned how to not only compare prices overall but how to compare them at an "ounce for ounce" kind of level, helping to determine what is truly the better deal. He also learned that there are certain things we just don't go cheap on at our house- like toilet paper, for one.
When we got to the yogurt section, I asked him to turn the cart around and head back toward cleaning supplies. "But that's not next on the list", he declared, obviously alarmed. " Cream cheese and butter are next on the list".
I explained that my list was probably not in the exact order of how the store is laid out, and he still murmured, "I'd still rather buy things in the order they are on the list..."
Good God what have I created?!
Checking out, I'm not sure who was happier that we came in under budget- me or the 11-year old. The cashier was smiling as we took guesses at the total while he swiped our purchases past the ever-ready laser scanner. By the time we got home, unloaded, and put everything away, he had "worked" for over two hours. He even took the cooler out of my trunk that has been there since the end of football season....
Tonight's picture represents a mother's thankfulness for her child's help when she is not feeling herself. You can't see it, but he is actually holding the grocery list in his right hand as he pushes the cart. He looked like a little adult today. Until he asked if he could have one of the free cookies they leave out in the bakery section, of course. I'm off to take a hot shower and lay on my heating pad- but not until I pay up the $12 I owe my personal assistant for the day.
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