Cents and Sensibility, Days 15 and 16. Making up for lost time.

I went to the store today, and I'm not really sure why I did. Let's see if we can figure it out.

After two days at home, I needed to get away from my predictable comfortable home place. We needed eggs for Monday's Peasants Feast, and we were almost out of dog food, I said to myself.

Long and short, I wanted to be elsewhere.

As I was trying to make sense of this need to shop today, I remembered an entry I wrote in November http://paradigmthrift.blogspot.com/2010/11/ill-take-it-few-words-on-why-we-shop.html about the why behind why we shop. After re-reading that entry, it became obvious that my trip to the store was less of a need than it was a diversion.

Like someone who's on a rigid diet who decides to have a piece of cake, I felt I owed it to myself. I thought I deserved getting out for a bit, based on how conscious we've all been about living with what we have.

Going to the grocery store ranks among the least glamorous, least indulgent rewards I can possibly think of.

But today I was making up for a bit of lost time, by getting lost for a while. Sometimes it's nice to go somewhere no one can find you. Even if where you choose to lose yourself is in an aisle at the grocery store.

I got out of the house for a bit, by myself. I even left my phone in the car.

After 16 days of sticking close to home, I forgot how much I enjoy diversions of the sort I allowed myself today.

It's interesting, how just a few weeks ago I wouldn't have thought twice about rambling all over the city, getting lost all day long.

Today it felt different.

Sometimes I think it might be better to ask 'why?', rather than 'why not?'.