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Lost sister, aisle G27

 

Sour Patch Kids.

Love them.

Sour Patch Oreos?

Not so much.

In fact, what the heck? Sour Patch Oreos? I haven’t tried them, don’t intend to try them, and yet they are a huge sign that this needs to stop.

I was wandering the grocery store the other day, looking for my sister, when I stumbled across these disasters. Mind you, they may taste just fine. And I do love Sour Patch Kids. But how is this even possible? Classic Oreos? Fantastic. Double Stuf? Brilliant. Golden? Not a personal favorite, but the creation make sense. After all, when they started producing… wait… forgot something… what was I… oh yeah…

My sister.

I lost my sister.

How did that happen?

We actually weren’t in a true grocery store. We were shopping in one of those mega-mart stores with sections for groceries, hardware, electronics, toys, automobiles and on and on. Her list of needs included a few things that involved wandering around a bit, she knew what I was getting, and our plan was to meet in one or two different sections as we wrapped up gathering our items.

That’s when I turned the corner and saw the display for Sour Patch Oreos, and was snapped out of my item-to-item-quick-grab trance. First, I found myself thinking I was staring at a very stupid product. Second, I realized she wasn’t nearby so I could point out the stupidity.

How often do you go shopping with someone and lose them? Could be anyone. Significant other. A child. Two or more people wander inside, and within about fifteen minutes or so a wave of realization begins to sweep over at least one. A wave of understanding that there is no idea whatsoever of the location of the second person.

My guess is something like this happens to you all the time. Especially when you meander into a larger mega-mart store or a complete mall-like environment. More choices. More items to check off the list. More distractions.

I’m not one to be defending myself here. I’ve managed to get lost in a drug store, when thoughts of needing a greeting card swept me away from my “you pick up some tape while I go grab the prescription” assignment went wrong. Tape. Easy. But there I was, five rows over, browsing cards and trying to decide if a thinking of you card with a note written inside would work since all of the thank you cards were dumb.

(Side note, I’ve written about cards before. But I can’t get over this thought. Monkey butt jokes and religious themes to lengthy verses inside. Are the vast majority of card buyers these days 5-year-old Catholics? Never mind. Forget I asked.)

Turned out my sister was looking for a big bag of Swedish Fish when I found her. Nothing surprising there, but that’s a story for a different time. For now, I’m preparing to head out with my fiancée on some errands. We’ve got a nice dinner planned for later. I hope I don’t get lost.

 

If you have any comments or questions, please e-mail me at Bob@inmybackpack.com