Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Say cheese

Today I picked up a tub of cottage cheese while I was grocery shopping. As always, I checked the expiry date. It was March 9th - Thomas' first birthday.

It was so very, very strange and surreal. Time came to a screaming halt while the tub of cottage cheese and I had a mid-aisle standoff. We stared at each other warily. Would I buy it? Would it kill me if I did? Would I feel defeated if I didn't? Would the cheese win? Would I? Would anyone?

I don't know who authorized the use of Thomas' birthday as an expiry date for dairy products. It's not right. Not right at all. That date is his and his alone. It is, after all, the day the most beautiful little soul came into this world and taught me what it means to feel mother love.

But in the end I put the tub in my cart. I wanted the cottage cheese.

Life has a funny way of nudging you onward even when you're sure you can't take one more step.

3 comments:

kate said...

((((((((((hugs)))))))))

yeah, life sure does do that...

Julie said...

I remember hitting that point where it seemed like ALL of the expiration dates were january 5th. It was like a slap in the face. Funny how things like buying dairy products will forever be changed. ((((((((hugs))))))))

(And Evan's birthday is March 9th. While we celebrate the gift given to us that day, I will take the time to think of Thomas too.)

MB said...

It did the same damn thing with a tub of sour cream. It's just surreal. I remember writing about it in my blog. Suddenly the expriation date on a tub of sour cream was so very significant...