Shopping.
As I've mentioned before, Lewis loved to shop. None of our friends enjoyed shopping with him. He tended to take forever, and would wander off on his own. I always found myself wasting time looking for him, or just standing in the middle of a store (usually Target) thinking that at some point he'd run into me. You'd think in this day and age I could have just texted the words "Where are you? I'm tired of being here" to him, but he never looked at his phone when he was shopping. He couldn't hear the phone, either. Probably because the sound was turned off.
It's hard for me to go shopping by myself right now. I used to quite like it. It was a relief to be able to go into a store, get what I need, and leave. When I find myself in a store that Lewis loved, I get a little teary. I just remember all the waiting, though, and the tears dry up until I get to the car and then I start blubbering again.
***Let me interject here- thanks for sticking with me through this cathartic Live Journal experience. Do not worry about me, I'm not crying all the time. This is just what you see here on Live Journal. Writing is helping me to get all this out of my system.***
Okay, so Target makes me cry right now. Unless I'm with Scott or another friend, then I'm okay. So you'd think, a trip to the much hated Walmart would have been a downright delight today. Lewis and I NEVER shopped there.
I love Dolly Parton, and her exceptional new album "Blue Smoke" was released today. Unfortunately, Walmart is kind of Dolly's demographic (at least in rural areas) so they have an exclusive version of the album that has four extra songs. My love of Dolly allows me to throw my "I will not enter a Walmart" rule out the window. Walmart has a location near my house. I don't know why I thought going there to pick up the new Dolly cd would be so easy and care free.
I chose a cart. I'm at Walmart, I may as well pick up a few other things while I'm there. I filled the cart with the very specific brand of toilet paper I can't be without in my bathroom, and several boxes of the very specific brand of tissues I like to use while I'm crying about Lewis. I venture to the refrigerated juice aisle, assuming they'll have the Minute Maid Cherry Limeade I'm just wild about. Lewis called it "Addiction." He may have been correct. It's delicious, but this doesn't matter because they didn't have it. They had other Minute Maid juices: Fruit Punch, Grape Punch, Peach Punch, Lemonade, BUT NO CHERRY LIMEADE. Big fat disappointment. I also had to wade through a sea of people, as seen on that website "The People of Walmart." The website is no joke, it's all real. Do people just lose their minds when they know they are going shopping there? "Oh, I'm goin' to the Walmart. Let me wear clothing that is inappropriate for my age and considerable girth."
I push onward, to the entertainment area where they keep the Dolly Parton cd's. I CANNOT FIND DOLLY. It's a new release, it should be on the new release end cap with other new releases that is in the middle of said department. It's not there. So I go to the "P" section of the cd's and look for Dolly. Nothing. I then realize it's all categorized by genre, so I look for "P" in the country section which I had trouble finding because it was dwarved by their Contemporary Christian/Gospel cd section. THEY HAD ONE DOLLY CD. ONLY ONE. AND NOT THE ONE I'M HERE TO PURCHASE. It was some greatest hits that didn't even have "Here You Come Again", "Baby, I'm Burnin'", or "9 To 5" on it. As if.
I inquire with the male Walmart employee that was working in the area, once I was able to flag him down. He's standing in the middle of a series of counters, surrounded by cameras, phones, and other electronic items that are all nailed down with the heavy duty-est security measures I've ever seen in a retail establishment.
He wasn't waiting on anyone. He was staring at the ceiling.
"I'm looking for Dolly Parton's new cd and I can't seem to find it."
"Cd's are over there." (He points to where I just came from.)
"Yes, thank you. I just came from over there. I specifically can't find Dolly Parton's new cd that came out today."
"If you don't see it, we don't have it."
"It was just released today, and it's a Walmart exclusive. You have it advertised."
He never once offered to move from the area and help look for it. "The cd lady was here a little while ago. She would have left it if it's something we carry."
"You do carry it, as I said- it's ADVERTISED and it's AN EXCLUSIVE. The Walmart version has four extra songs."
He shrugged his shoulders.
I left my cart full of toilet paper and Kleenex right in the middle of his section. I'm sure people do this all the time at this store, so my action wasn't shocking at all.
As I walked away, all I could think of was Octavia Spencer in "The Help."
"You can EAT MY SHIT, Walmart."
Later, I picked my friend Matt up and we went to a different Walmart that is located further away from the city and closer to a rural area. We thought it was going to be a big, fat, waste of time but we were able to find the only two copies that seem to be in the state of Indiana. I'm glad they had two because we probably would have slapped each other over who was going to get it had they only had one.
It's hard for me to go shopping by myself right now. I used to quite like it. It was a relief to be able to go into a store, get what I need, and leave. When I find myself in a store that Lewis loved, I get a little teary. I just remember all the waiting, though, and the tears dry up until I get to the car and then I start blubbering again.
***Let me interject here- thanks for sticking with me through this cathartic Live Journal experience. Do not worry about me, I'm not crying all the time. This is just what you see here on Live Journal. Writing is helping me to get all this out of my system.***
Okay, so Target makes me cry right now. Unless I'm with Scott or another friend, then I'm okay. So you'd think, a trip to the much hated Walmart would have been a downright delight today. Lewis and I NEVER shopped there.
I love Dolly Parton, and her exceptional new album "Blue Smoke" was released today. Unfortunately, Walmart is kind of Dolly's demographic (at least in rural areas) so they have an exclusive version of the album that has four extra songs. My love of Dolly allows me to throw my "I will not enter a Walmart" rule out the window. Walmart has a location near my house. I don't know why I thought going there to pick up the new Dolly cd would be so easy and care free.
I chose a cart. I'm at Walmart, I may as well pick up a few other things while I'm there. I filled the cart with the very specific brand of toilet paper I can't be without in my bathroom, and several boxes of the very specific brand of tissues I like to use while I'm crying about Lewis. I venture to the refrigerated juice aisle, assuming they'll have the Minute Maid Cherry Limeade I'm just wild about. Lewis called it "Addiction." He may have been correct. It's delicious, but this doesn't matter because they didn't have it. They had other Minute Maid juices: Fruit Punch, Grape Punch, Peach Punch, Lemonade, BUT NO CHERRY LIMEADE. Big fat disappointment. I also had to wade through a sea of people, as seen on that website "The People of Walmart." The website is no joke, it's all real. Do people just lose their minds when they know they are going shopping there? "Oh, I'm goin' to the Walmart. Let me wear clothing that is inappropriate for my age and considerable girth."
I push onward, to the entertainment area where they keep the Dolly Parton cd's. I CANNOT FIND DOLLY. It's a new release, it should be on the new release end cap with other new releases that is in the middle of said department. It's not there. So I go to the "P" section of the cd's and look for Dolly. Nothing. I then realize it's all categorized by genre, so I look for "P" in the country section which I had trouble finding because it was dwarved by their Contemporary Christian/Gospel cd section. THEY HAD ONE DOLLY CD. ONLY ONE. AND NOT THE ONE I'M HERE TO PURCHASE. It was some greatest hits that didn't even have "Here You Come Again", "Baby, I'm Burnin'", or "9 To 5" on it. As if.
I inquire with the male Walmart employee that was working in the area, once I was able to flag him down. He's standing in the middle of a series of counters, surrounded by cameras, phones, and other electronic items that are all nailed down with the heavy duty-est security measures I've ever seen in a retail establishment.
He wasn't waiting on anyone. He was staring at the ceiling.
"I'm looking for Dolly Parton's new cd and I can't seem to find it."
"Cd's are over there." (He points to where I just came from.)
"Yes, thank you. I just came from over there. I specifically can't find Dolly Parton's new cd that came out today."
"If you don't see it, we don't have it."
"It was just released today, and it's a Walmart exclusive. You have it advertised."
He never once offered to move from the area and help look for it. "The cd lady was here a little while ago. She would have left it if it's something we carry."
"You do carry it, as I said- it's ADVERTISED and it's AN EXCLUSIVE. The Walmart version has four extra songs."
He shrugged his shoulders.
I left my cart full of toilet paper and Kleenex right in the middle of his section. I'm sure people do this all the time at this store, so my action wasn't shocking at all.
As I walked away, all I could think of was Octavia Spencer in "The Help."
"You can EAT MY SHIT, Walmart."
Later, I picked my friend Matt up and we went to a different Walmart that is located further away from the city and closer to a rural area. We thought it was going to be a big, fat, waste of time but we were able to find the only two copies that seem to be in the state of Indiana. I'm glad they had two because we probably would have slapped each other over who was going to get it had they only had one.