VALENTINES DAY PONDERINGS

I made a tactical error today.

It all started so innocently. I needed green leaf lettuce. Nothing too complicated, I think to myself. I will go in, get it, get out ... no one will get hurt.

Error in judgment. Failed to consult calendar first.

Valentines Day! Never go into a produce market, especially one that sells fresh flowers, no less, on Valentines Day. It's dangerous, I tell you, dangerous.

Getting to the produce was not the problem. In fact, you could launch a rocket through the produce department and nary an injury would occur. No, the problem becomes navigating from the produce department, through the throngs of frantic men grabbing aimlessly at flowers, and getting into an already-packed check out line.

I felt a bit out of place holding my bag of green leaf lettuce in amongst the spider mums, tulips, and the sprays and sprays of roses.

Feeling more and more like a fish out of water, I get the grand idea that if I flip my bunch of green leaf lettuce upside down, in bouquet fashion, I might fit in better.

The sixteen year old behind me, buying a giant floral sculpture of roses in every color, snickered at me. So, I flipped it back over and stood quietly in line, whistling a little tune, hoping to deflect the stares.

What a sweet scene, though ... as I stood there, I watched a little, elderly man, shuffle carefully over to a register with the most precious floral arrangement you could imagine. I pictured his wife of 60 some years, being so surprised at the gesture ... it made me miss my grandma.

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