The Journey Begins With Our Jermaine...

"Hey bud!" I said as I patted on Jermaine's humongous breadth of broad shoulders when I stepped inside Kroger.

I gave him a good "man hug". I know I was dancing with the devil and fate -- hoping not to get caught in a lengthy conversation.

He was already in his mobility cart about to toodle around the store.

"How is Alec?" Jermaine asked back about my brother.

He always mispronounces my brother's name.

"He lives in Auburn now," I told my good, but sometimes aggravating friend. "I will tell him you asked about him and his family."

Jermaine seemed thrilled.

My father and I were both very quiet tonight. I went my way and he went his. He said he was going to leave me shopping and go get his car filled up with $1.60-gallon gas. He used his Kroger fuel points. Of course, this left me standing up front as I waited on my father.

"Do you need any help?" I was asked about six times from the employees.

I still had a quite a bit of eats from last week -- two tubs of chicken salad and a loaf of bread among others. We also had a smattering of bacon, cheddar cheese, and eggs left. This allowed me to buy a bunch of sweet things that would normally be out of my budget range. I also had 10 cans of Chef Boyardee that I wasn't excited about, but they were on sale last week for 10 for $10. I told my father they were my emergency rations.

"Let me see what you have in there," asked my father when he had reentered the store and gazed into my cart. "You need to get some more substantial food."

I explained I had food at home that was left from our last foray of shopping. He then seemed placated.

"I can't believe they had an Edwards lemon meringue pie in stock!" he exclaimed grinning "I love a good slice for breakfast.".