Morgan Kate

I feel like I'm a good mix of both my mom and dad. In my opinion I got my mom's sense of organization and financial planning. I was blessed with her legs and knees and smile. Unfortunately, I didn't get her height or natural curls or perfect teeth. She passed on her independence and strong will. Her creative side and maternal instincts. From my dad, I got his sense of humor (we both find really silly things to be quite funny), love for animals and at times the ability to be laid back. I got my nose and my lips and one of my ears. My love for anything and everything water related came straight from my dad. I didn't however get his "fix it" genes. The man can fix just about anything. Nor did I get his patience. And today I realized he passed along something else. I realized for the first time in my whole life that I also definitely acquired my dad's grocery shopping skills. I use the term skills rather loosely.

As a child and even a bigger child in college, I loved grocery shopping with my dad. When I grocery shopped with my mom we had a list, we didn't deviate from the list and we were in and out in a timely manner. But, with my dad, we took a list and we used it to remember a few things, but we mostly just bought whatever we saw on the shelf that caught our attention. There was no order to our madness. We went down one aisle, then to the back of the store, back to the front - wherever our tastes and desires took us. We tried all the latest cereals, purchased candy like it was going out of style, took hours moving down the ice cream aisle and picked up every different can of Chef Boyardee imaginable. If there was any new product then we were sure to buy it. We could easily take two hours in the grocery store and spend several hundred dollars. When I was in college I would go with my dad at least every other Sunday to the grocery store. He would buy the groceries for their house and then buy groceries for me. Please keep in mind that I had a meal plan, a very expensive meal plan, but I still felt like I needed full fledge groceries. What if I didn't like what the Russell House was serving? What if I was running late and needed a quick breakfast? Or a midnight snack? I had true concerns regarding my daily nutritious intake and my dad made sure they were taken care of. At that point in my life I had no clue about the cost of groceries or the cost of feeding a family of five plus. If we wanted something we just threw it in the cart. Fast forward about twelve years and I get it. It now makes sense. Hindsight's 20/20 right? I realize that mine and my dad's behavior while in the grocery store may have been a bit reckless. And it may be the same reason I don't enjoy grocery shopping as an adult. 

When Travis and I were first married we shopped together. When we first brought MK home I went - it was my only two hours out of the house in two weeks kind of thing. Once I went back to work Travis started going solo. And the crazy part? He really enjoys it. I thought I did, until today at least. I realized today that I don't enjoy it at all. And, that I shop just like my dad. Point in case. I go with a good list. I really do. My good friend, Jessica, taught me several years ago about weekly menus and grocery lists and I have stuck to them. Seriously. But, I purchase the things on the list, along with a lot of other things. And I mean a lot. I deviate considerably. If I see something interesting or new or fun, I buy it. I make up reasons to buy things. And while in the grocery store, I am seriously all over the place. Up one aisle, down the other, to the back, up another aisle, to the front. All. Over. And I spend lots of money. Which is quite ironic because I handle all of our "finances" and I'm pretty darn good at it. The other ironic part is I had no problem paying almost $6 for nail polish, but thought $6 for four razors was absolutely ridiculous. I'm still hot about those razors. Today I only bought things we desperately needed, like toilet paper, paper towels, milk and nail polish. Okay, maybe I didn't desperately need the nail polish. And when I walked out I had $155.79 less than I had when I walked in. Trav can shop for two weeks and gets lots of dinner ideas and snacks and even some cold beverages and come out cheaper. It's crazy. 

I think I've always shopped liked this. Matter of fact, I know I have. I got it firsthand from my daddy. But today was an "ah-hah" moment. I was in the middle of the store with this very detailed list and when I looked down I realized I had been in the store for almost thirty minutes, had a pretty full cart, but had nothing from my list. I was also only on like the third aisle or my third spot in the store. I was looking at everything and analyzing all of the prices. I began to feel really overwhelmed. I could not get my self together. I called Travis right there in the middle of the store and told him that I was no longer allowed to come to the grocery store alone. Ever. Today I realized that I do NOT need to be the one grocery shopping. I am clearly not a responsible grocery shopper.


I just want to apologize to my mom for all the years of those absurd grocery bills. I am so sorry. And to my dad, I'm so thankful to have gotten your sense of humor and your nose and many, many other great qualities, but I do NOT want your grocery shopping skills. You can have those back. Thank you.