Maybe on the Next Aisle...

Well, this title doubly describes my experience shopping at Schnucks this afternoon. Schnucks is the local grocer up here in St. Louis and I am pretty sure I will be a faithful shopper at Schnucks merely because of the name. Seriously, not much cooler than a store named Schnucks. Ok, maybe there is. But I just like saying it. Gives me a good laugh every time. Schnucks! Schnucks! Schnucks! :) Love it!

Also, for a good laugh there is a place nearby called Straubs. Not sure what they sell there, but whatever it is, I am going! Seriously, I am just getting in a good chuckle every time I drive down the street. But all this talk about Schnucks and Straubs, no matter how fun it is, is besides the point!

My experience shopping at Schnucks made me just a little bit sad and a little bit homesick. For probably a couple of reasons...

1. The fact that I was grocery shopping in general, and not going to dinner at MiCocina. I just love eating out and am maybe a little depressed that I no longer have the money to do so. Honestly though, there really aren't any great restaurants around here anyways- how could there be with no Mexican food. Who knows maybe I'll actually enjoy grocery shopping then. Dallas peeps, enjoy, we know food down there!

2. The fact that some of the few grocery items I do enjoy, I could not find on the shelves of Schnucks...like Honey Wheat Pretzels, good flat bread, my weight watchers yogurts, and duh... Blue Bell Ice Cream.

3. The fact that in my one hour- that's right, one hour of grocery shopping, I did not run into a single person that I knew! I found myself just hoping- maybe on the next aisle! Now, I realize that this is highly unlikely seeing as I know like 4 people in STL and they probably go to a different Schnucks! But regardless, I would get kind of excited every time I rounded my way to the next aisle, only to be faced with a bunch of random strangers.

I think that is one of the things I am going to miss the most- always having to allow for a few extra minutes for each of your errands because you are sure going to run into someone that you know. When a trip to the grocery store for me always inevitably included a few little chats with my girls, their parents, my friends!

Community is special and it is sweet. And it is such a joy and privilege to just do life with people. Today, I am missing that community I have at home- the faces I'd run into at the store, at the Y, and at JD's while I was getting my diet coke, the people that would honk and stop while I was on a walk.

But I am also hopeful and anxiously looking forward to the community that God will provide for me here- a people, friends, to live with and do life with, to know and be known by, to love and be loved by, a people with whom to share life, share joys, share burdens, share laughs. It's neat to think about the reality that some of the strangers I saw today- at lunch, at the coffee shop, at the store- may just become friends with whom I share my life and my heart!

What a day it will be when I have friends at Schnucks!! :) Can't wait!

For now, to my community, my friends, my fam, my girls in Dallas...I love and miss you! I'm so abundantly thankful for the community I have had and will always have with you!