Romance on Aisle 2

"Sometimes romance can be found any ol' where...even Aisle 2 of a local grocery store." ~ a quote by Socrates, or Shakespeare, or...well, somebody musta said it at some point

We are in L.A. this weekend (Lower Alabama, of course) visiting my inlaws. And, because we just celebrated our thirteenth anniversary, they offered to watch the kiddos for us tonight so we could go and have a nice dinner together. Of course, we jumped at the chance.

Now, you must know, my inlaws live in a very small town about an hour and a half from any major metropolitan area. Therefore, in order to really "hit the town", we'd need to make a three-hour round trip journey which neither of us was really up to doing. So... we chose a little local restaurant--not "fancy" by any means but still really pleasant--at which to dine and practice our Fine Conversational Skills. It was nice.

But afterwards, we weren't ready to rush home just yet. Stop 2 on "Life Styles of the Young and In Love"-- FOOD WORLD. It's Saturday night and we're giddy and in love and...well, we needed baby formula.

So, we park the car and mosey in like we hadn't a care in the world. Hand-in-hand, we strolled past the ginormous helium-filled Valentine displays. Stuffed animals, boxes of chocolate-covered cherries and bottles of sparkling cider (ooh yeah) greeted us as we entered the second stop on our Romantical Journey. After each taking a turn on the "check your blood pressure" machine (a page straight out of a storybook romance, y'all), we surveyed the signs above each aisle until we spotted what we were looking for: "BABY NEEDS--Aisle 2."

Aisle 2 was a virtual clearinghouse...a menagirie if you will of pantyhose, moth balls, lipstick and diapers. This was the kind of aisle you wish to linger on out of sheer curiosity but you usually have a screaming child (or at least one begging for bubble gum) so an actual pause here for browsing is virtually unheard of.

Unless you're on a date, that is.

We stood there and marveled over baby products and formula ingredients and reminisced over a jar of Blueberry Buckle-- a shared childhood memory for us. I perused the hand lotions section while hubs debated which brand of chapped lip ointment would suit his needs. In short, we were a Vision of Love-Induced Togetherness if ever I'd seen one.

On the way home, I read to him by maplight excerpts from a friend's book of published essays heralding the quirkiness of life in the south. I couldn't help but chuckle to myelf as I thought that this very evening would have been a perfect addition to the collection.

Pulling up in the driveway, we noticed a sky full of stars and a wooden swing just perfect for two anniversary-celebratin' lovebirds. But instead, we chose to head inside--admittedly missing our boys and the joy they add to our lives. We made bottles, tucked in little wound-up bodies, read a bedtime story or three and once again lost ourselves in the comfortable and familiar routine of parenthood.

Some people would not consider our evening very romantic, you see. But, I'll always cherish the magic, the content-just-to-be-together splendor that happened on Aisle 2 of a small-town grocery store. Forget about diamond pendant necklaces and champagne glass-shaped bathtubs. Our evening was relaxed, comfortable and provided us with plenty of together time.

That's romantic enough for me.