I am drinking wine because
my youngest is going back to college tomorrow.
Wait. That doesn’t sound right. Let me explain how I got here.
#2 son is going back to
college tomorrow. He has one semester
left, and this will be my last foray into scholastic sports. While I’m a bit nostalgic, I’m also a realist
and am kind of, just a bit, sort of looking forward to having the sports
seasons off for a change. I have been
carting and following my kids around to school sports for over twenty years,
and I’m at the point where traveling to sporting events means going by myself,
and it’s kind of boring being by myself on a long car trip. But I digress. Sports or no sports, the kid is going back to
his university tomorrow, and the car will need to be packed.
The kid needs a few
supplies heading back. It’s wonderful
because at this late stage of his academic career, the list of items is
remarkably short. I’m thinking that if
we stop on the way back to the school, the short list might get longer and
longer, so I take his written note and turn it into a grocery store run during
the second period of the Bruins game.
(Seriously, the Patriots’ playoff game is later, and one must weigh the
importance of each event. Besides,
nothing happens in period 2 of the hockey game, anyway.)
The grocery stores nearest
my house are small, somewhat overpriced, with limited selection of items. I scour the flyers and jot down on the list
some things that I also need that are on sale.
Armed with a good idea of what I’m buying and no adult child in tow, I
head to the store.
While I’m at the store, I’m
hunting for avocados because I’m suddenly having a guacamole fixation. I need limes and I also need some medium-hot
salsa. I need various other things from
my list and my son’s list, so I am traipsing up and down the aisles with very
little clear vision as to what I’m doing.
Oh, look. Hot chocolate. University students drink hot chocolate,
right? Into the cart it goes. Gatorade is on sale. I try calling son #2 to see which flavor he
would like. He doesn’t answer (rarely
does), so I wing it and make an executive decision on fruit punch. The kid needs toilet paper; my house needs
toilet paper. He needs water; I need
milk. He wants Cheezits; I want a block
of Vermont cheddar cheese.
The only meat I need, and
I don’t really even “need” need it I just might kind of need it, is packaged
neatly in a carton next to the fish and seafood counter. I know damn well that cod is on sale because
I read it in the flyer. What I don’t
expect to find is cod on sale from the sale, and, strangely enough, the fish counter
doesn’t stink like fish. (Fresh fish
shouldn’t smell fishy.) I buy myself a
nice chunk of cod to cook, and it costs me less than $5.
Later, when I decide to
cook the fish during the Patriots’ game, I look up some recipes online to
decide if I want to go old school (lemon, butter, and crackers) or a little
something more exotic. I compromise with
a recipe that involves white wine. I
have white wine; I like white wine.
Usually on weekends I go to local wine tastings, and I didn’t get a
chance to do that today, so this satisfies the weekend wine requirement.
As I’m pouring the wine
over the half-cooked fish, I realize that I am a little thirsty. I reach up and grab a goblet from the top
shelf of the cabinet, and I pour some into the glass. I sip white wine while dinner is cooking,
while I’m eating dinner, and later after I’ve started the dishwasher. Thank goodness for cod, or I probably would’ve
grabbed a beer or something unexciting to sip along with the game.
So, you see, if my son
didn’t have a list, I wouldn’t have gone shopping. And if there hadn’t been a Bruins game then a
Patriots game on today, I might’ve gone to another store. And if I hadn’t reached down to grab hamburger
in the case near the fish counter, I wouldn’t have bothered with the cod on
sale. Had I not bought and cooked the
cod, I wouldn’t have opened the wine.
To make a very long story
much more succinct, it’s because my son is returning to college that I am
drinking wine. It may sound like I have
a problem, but, as you can see, I have a perfectly logical explanation.
