Food, Glorious Food!

The heat in West Michigan right now is...bearable. I could endure it if I had to. There's even a bit of a breeze rustling the branches of the two giant trees on the lawn. BUT the humidity makes it unsustainable out there! I can't stand it for more than a few minutes. And the allergens are as high as ever. There goes the ease of MY breathing:) But by Fortune's favor, that's not a problem. Shipt grocery delivery saves the day! Through this steal of a deal, I pay a nominal fee every year, and the delivery fee is negated once my groceries hit a certain price point:) It pays for itself almost immediately:) My thought process when signing up for the first time, in June of last year, was that there are so often days like this: high allergies, high heat, unfavorable wind blowing my hair in front of my eyes, sun burning my skin to a brilliant shade of fuchsia. And that was going to translate into "too much ice to get traction on the side walks, heavy snow, wind blowing my hair in front of my eyes when visibility is already low." So I knew it would be a wise expense for some one like me, and I thanked Heaven somebody had finally begun to notice. It's not the easiest thing in the world for so many of us to get out there and get our groceries:( Aside from inclement weather of any kind, there's bringing something to carry the groceries, or just draping plastic grocery bags on the handle bars, guaranteeing a small amount of groceries and necessitating further trips. It was so nice when the people at my local grocery chain seemed to really see us homebodies as people. People who THEY could help. Thus sparked a business and lots more jobs! I've even been told by some of those who shopped for me that some people make it their ONLY job. This delighted me. And it's not just wonderful for those of us with chronic conditions (some call them "spoonies"--I'm not sure how I feel about that term just yet) either! The elderly, an age group that will eventually become the largest one in America if it isn't already, could also use help getting those all important groceries sometimes. I'm sure they'd happily do it themselves if they could. I'm sure those of us with physical disabilities would--because I did for the first year or so I lived downtown. It's horrible. In the summer it's hot and miserable, even if you slather on sunscreen and add ice packs to your groceries to keep them fresh and you cool. Even with a handheld fan, it's miserable waiting endlessly for the bus, or going on and trying to finagle your groceries into place around you so they don't block the aisle. I'm grateful every day that SOMEBODY realized how important it was to help us not to have to go through that, and how badly we needed the service. And this was long before I started on my personal crusade to raise awareness. I used to make frequent bus trips to various grocery stores, at great inconvenience, basically sacrificing a whole day to riding and waiting. And I never said a word. Somebody must have. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the sight of me with my walker and the collapsible cooler on top of it, loaded with groceries, walking through the city streets a couple times a week that finally swayed the Powers That Be:) That's how I imagine things changed--in my daydreams! In reality I'm sure it was less glamorous than that. Maybe the grocery chain just realized it had disposable income it needed to use creatively through paying "field workers"! But it's not just Michigan. I've looked around the country, and several different chains are delivering their groceries to customers across America! If you're reading, anybody involved, let me say thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Friendly, thoughtful selection of groceries, followed by their timely home delivery, in a country that is plagued by hunger and the increasingly desperate Social Security-dependent--means everything. For those of you who aren't savvy to the joys of home groceries yet, allow me to recommend: https://shop.shipt.com/">