Publix

No trip home to FL would be complete without a trip to Publix. I've just come back to my parents' house from the "Disney World" of grocery stores, and everything in the world was just fine while I was there. Even during the drive home, I felt a lingering feeling of bliss and rainbows...the same feeling I have when I pull into the parking lot in anticipation of smelling the cupcakes as I pass the huge scale just inside the entrance. Yes, to me, Publix is an oasis in a world full of chaos...which is one reason I always go there when I'm on a trip home.

Anyone who knows me knows that visits with my family have an expiration of 48-72 hrs after arrival. So it was no surprise that I was distracted on my way back to my parents' house from Circuit City (I bought a digital camera for my upcoming trip to Paris) & stopped at Olive Garden for mussels. Originally, I thought I'd get my favorite appetizer to go, but then I thought about the whole weekend and decided to have sangria while I waited as I chatted with my best friend. She asked if I was pregnant (NO! But another relative is driving me to eat crazy...Aunt Flow has arrived) and asked if the sangria was good. I told her it was and shared that I found it ironic because it had been exactly 48 hours since my plane landed when I ordered the drink.

My parents don't particularly care for my drinking (& it doesn't help that I've become a bit of a lush since moving to NO where the motto is, "The liver is evil & it must be punished!"), so I try to avoid doing it at their house. I made it a point to buy cookies instead of cupcakes at Publix (they travel better), and I'm planning on continuing showing the backwards folks in LA how great FL is with cookies (& as a way of rubbing in the LSU loss from last night). All this preparation & fun ended when I returned to my parents' house.

After my dad came in from his evening walk, he asked what kind of camera I got. I showed it to him & he said I could've gotten a better one cheaper (don't I know it...clear sign I just needed to get out of the house!). He then asked what I was doing.

"Printing out my boarding passes," (not that I'm looking forward to going home...but...)

"You know, your mother is very sick. What she has...what they're doing...she could really die."

"I know Daddy."

Why do you think I went to Publix.