Post AeyYiw1CPV3FUF5XsW by anne@toot.cat
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 (DIR) Post #AeyYiw1CPV3FUF5XsW by anne@toot.cat
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       #Today I stopped by our area’s one and only Trader Joe's to buy new shopping bags. Y'see, I had a huge collection of bags that were stolen recently. Well, less stolen than opportunistically liberated after I accidentally left them in a parking lot shopping cart. When I returned an hour later, the bags were gone and no one had turned them in to the grocery store's Lost & Found.Some of those bags were 15, maybe 20 years old, so the loss was less a violation and more a nostalgia trigger. A reminder of my life as a busy parent of three young children, of a life lived on two coasts and in vastly different climes. A reminder of a time when my own mother was still alive—and my next oldest brother as well. I thought of road trips and sleepovers, where a bag was as good as a suitcase. Lazy sunny times on the beach, shaking pebbles and sand out of them at the end of the day.I hadn't realized that every time I went grocery shopping, I was slinging my past by a handle through the present, collecting food to nourish the future.The Trader Joe's cashier remarked on my purchase, and I explained that my bags had been stolen. He commiserated with me, which felt nice. I commented that perhaps they were taken by an unhoused person; perhaps they needed the bags more than me. "If so, then I'm happy to buy more. You just never know where people are at or what they need."We talked about local car thefts, the opioid crisis, of wealth inequality. The cashier told me that the store manager never tries to stop shoplifters. They have some "regulars" that they recognize, but the manager would rather take the loss than cause further harm to anyone. The staff is completely onboard with that.The cashier packed up the few other groceries I'd purchased along with the bags: green tea, a dozen eggs, some pumpkin seeds, a pot of mustard. We wished each other well and said our goodbyes.The new bags are stiff and fold sharply, and I've yet to remove the price tags. I'll probably stop in to get a few more at some point. For now, these will do, and I'm off to a good start filling them with new memories, new hooks thrown into my personal timeline. Hooks no more permanent than the last, but comforting at least.#storytelling