A Saturday in My Life

This morning I went grocery shopping. I love to go grocery shopping.

I woke up at 7:05. I languished in bed until 7:45, staring at the darkness and listening to the silence. It was grand. I got up, made my tea, and talked to my husband for a few hours.

I picked up my beloved friend Jeannie at the studio where she teaches pilates. I watched her work for a little while. She was so gentle and encouraging with her student, and the music was peaceful, and the room has century-old brick walls and gorgeous wood floors and mood lighting. I think I'm going to start taking yoga lessons there. Like, this week. This is something I've wanted for a long time, and I think it's time to stop dreaming about it and start doing it. Which, of course, is common sense for most people. But I live most of my life in my head, and it often doesn't occur to me to translate my fantasies into action. I know, silly, right? But it's just ... me.

We traveled to Goshen, which is 30 minutes away. 30 minutes for groceries? Yes, 30 minutes for groceries. 30 minutes, because Goshen is where I meet the woman who grows my carrots and woman who gathers my eggs and the woman who presses my apple cider. I hand them my money, and they hand me the food that they've driven not ten miles to the market, an unpretentious wood-and-cinderblock building, where I buy it. Nothing there has a label on it. There are no advertisements or grating announcements or logos or chemical additives or politicians who work for Monsanto. Everything comes from the sun and the rain and the soil and the sweat of a person's brow. I love to hand my money to the beautiful people who produce my food. I love to take part in a healthy, sustainable system that does as little harm as possible to God's earth and his creatures and his children. And I love to share it with a dear, dear friend who really gets me and supports and shares my deep convictions about these things. Who says grocery shopping can't be holy?

I bought vegetables and fruit and eggs and cider and yogurt and butter and a few odds and ends. Then we visited the Clay Artists' Guild's fall exhibition, where I strained desperately not to buy anything. I think I will probably join the guild and start taking lessons from its master potters in the fall. [Picture me jumping up and down and clapping as I tell you this. Another case of stop-dreaming-and-start-doing. Yay for me!]

This afternoon, Kevin and I are going to visit the trees (which is how I think about a walk in the woods. It's like visiting friends.) Dinner will involved squash and baked apples. Yum. I'm so glad to be home and back to my routine and my kitty and (some of) my friends and my work and my kitchen and my bed and my life.

Shalom to you all.