It’s usually hard for me to find what I am looking for when I have something specific in mind. No, not the joint that I still haven’t found, I mean on a much larger scale… like within the realm of the general public and the stores that cater to them en masse.
It all started - well, clearly not all but this particular saga - in my shade garden. Funny how so many stories seem to start in a shady garden, but I digress. Anyhooters, a few weeks ago while I was minding my garden and drinking a most refreshingly cold beverage from a strawed stainless steel vessel, I moved my big ol' hose to moisten another area and all of a sudden something happened to enable gravity to kick in and bring said vessel crashing down onto the hard pathway where it then rolled into a makeshift grave I had made for a critter (or what was left of it) who met its demise in that very spot. The cup itself fared well in the fall but the lid was severely dented making it unusable not to mention the potential dead critter contamination. It became obvious that this was a sign that I needed a new one. I really liked that water vessel, it served me well I wanted another and it had to be the exact same kind…if only I could remember where I purchased it.
The search began for a replacement stainless steel double walled and insulated 24 oz. keep-a-beverage-cold-or-hot-for-20-hours type vessel in black with a clear silicone straw, twist off lid and a straw hole with a spring loaded cover that closes when the straw is removed, all with with a grippy non-slip finish. After visiting 3 different closeout stores, a dreaded big Target, and a more tolerable small Target, and two relatively large grocery stores to no avail, I figured that certainly it must have been that one time I went to Dick’s to satisfy my curiosity about what exactly they were selling which, of course, came with a degree of disappointment. Surely I must have bought something while I was there to commemorate the occasion, right? Where else could I have gotten it? Back to the Dick’s I went. I eagerly walked across the parking lot and though the front doors which opened like Moses (allegedly) parting the Red Sea (which I initially interpreted as a good sign after all it seemed to have - allegedly - worked for Moses) and in the Dick’s I went only to look around and realize that I was mistaken.
It was all coming back to me.
A year earlier, the love of my life had asked me to take him to Walmart (he had his reasons) and I obliged - it was a pandemic, the choices were limited and I do have regrets. This is when I purchased what seemed to be an otherwise perfect strawed water vessel! To confirm my epiphany, I pulled out my smartphone and did a search right then and there in the center aisle of the Dick's for the particular brand of bottle I was looking for and the results were staring me in the eye…Walmart. Sure I could have saved much time and effort had I done this from the beginning, however I suspect deep down I knew this would be the case and I was enjoying my time living in denial. Surely I couldn’t go back to the Walmart, perhaps I could find something here that would be the same of better even if it was a different brand.
Fortunately, the Dick’s didn't disappoint when it came to replacement options and I was able to find something suitable. I was able to be both compromise and be stubborn at the same time, though I did just swap one big box for a Dick’s and pay more for a bottle that is essentially the same as the previous one, just with a different name and higher price.
Is there a moral to this story?
There is indeed! I had the pleasure of knowing my maternal grandmother for 48 years and in that time she said some very interesting things that as a child just sounded funny to me but as and adult make so much sense. Her wisdom was never in question. One such saying she attributes to her mother, and this saying sums it all up nicely: “Love goes where it’s sent, even if it’s up the pig’s ass.”