Shopping with Mom

If you are a caregiver responsible for taking your loved one grocery shopping, I feel for you.

My mother always makes a list, not always a complete list but most items are there. Today, the list was longer than normal. Fortunately, I wasn't buying groceries for my family. It's been a little over two years that I've been driving my mother on errands, and I've learned that it just doesn't work to do my shopping at the same time. I usually take her list and go up and down the rows, pointing out what she wants, then step back and allow her to reach for things and look at the products, moving on when she is ready.

In the past, we tried just going to the items she intended to buy. Bad idea. Inevitably, she remembered something she wanted 2 rows back and I ended up running around the store like a crazy woman, trying to get back to her before she moved on and I couldn't find her! Yes, that's happened several times. And inspite of my best laid plans, it happened today.

How she got from the cereal aisle to the produce section so quickly is beyond me! She and I feel more comfortable when she is holding onto the cart. She must have felt secure because when I caught a glimpse of her, she was moving at quite a good clip! When I caught up with her, she calmly informed me she had come to meet me so I didn't have to backtrack. I didn't have the heart to tell her she had turned the wrong way from where I was at the other end of the store! Just another day in the life of this mother and daughter! I wouldn't trade it for anything.