3 FREE GROCERIES - SHOPPING WITH BOLD LIBERTY

She walked the bread/baking isle with her recycled shopping bag slightly open on her left arm. As she perused the Isle, she placed items in her bag. I thought, 'is she stealing? Nah...she is not stealing, she just didn't want to be bothered with a big cart 🛒. I say to myself, making shit up in my own mind to explain her actions. 'She will pay for her stuff', I reasoned. 'I hope?' 

I picked up my few items, burger 🍔, eggs🥚, coleslaw, mini potatoes, and salmon and headed to the cashier. Standing patiently in line I had forgotten about the woman until I saw a shadow in my peripheral. It was the woman passing all the cashiers proceeding to the out doors. She stopped nonchalantly by one of the empty cash registers and looked at the little gums and candy items, then she strategically walked pass. As I stood in line I looked at her. 

The woman pretended to look around as if looking for something while she cunningly slid to the side moving closer to the door. 

Noticing her creep out the door I tried to get the attention of the cashier. However, the cashier was too busy chitty chatting with a customer about her children, vacation etc., she didn't hear me. Once I was close enough, I told her about the woman who lifted the items. I pointed out the woman who was making slow deliberate steps away pretending to look at the plants🌵☘️ outside on sale. The perfect excuse should she be caught. She could say, "Oh I am not leaving I came out to get some plants." 

The cashier looked at the woman walking away, her bag full and promptly said as loud as you please, "I like my life, let her go. Me, I like my life! You never know what those people have on them. I love my life!" You know that song, I love my life?" she asks me, I nodded yes, trying not to laugh in simultaneous hysterics and horror. 

"Well, I love my life, let her go with the items, I hope they serve her well. God will take care of it." 

Smiling I moved to the next available cashier. As the woman made her get away as she realized she wasn't being followed.

As I packed my bags. I thought of the cashier's response and remembered that the grocery was robbed once before and one of the cashier's was badly hurt. Hence, her, "I love my life" and her unwillingness to get involved. She didn't even attempt to pickup the phone call management.

Free groceries...

0 WHEN YOU MUST NOT SEE WHAT'VE SEEN

Across the table, masks clothed faces moves in, out from breath; up, down and sideways from the motion of talk. The business conversation clear, although slightly shrouded, muffled capped by the cover. Lips unseen, moved in animated shadowed rhythms. The eyes stared at each other in comprehensive attention as one pair is jarringly distracted by a finger in the masked covered right nostril rubbing. 

The eyes in observation freezes in neutrality, holding the look to not give away the awareness off the nose digging as the mind cataloged. 

'Hell no, cut that out' the mind whispers. The eyes, held in its the neutralized position basked in the victory of not giving itself away,  only to be challenged by a second finger in the left nostril. 

'Lord have mercy, not another finger!' The mind screamed silently as the eyes struggled not to collapse the willfully neutral disguise as the fingers worked simultaneously in its itched mission. 

The observing mind sing songs, 'I am not seeing this. I am not seeing this. It is all a figment of my imagination, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, la, la la, la. Aye! Jehovah, save me from the fingers.' 

The fingers worked away at their tasks gleeful vigor as the observing eyes stared neutrally. The mind disgusted, uttered, 'yuck' while the mouth kept up the business conversation with professional decorum without missing a beat. No telltale hiccup signs gave away the mind's abhorrent disgust as it silently dialogued. 'Seriously, you can't excuse yourself and go and dig your nose privately. I have to witness this! I have no desire to see you dig up your nosehole.' The observing eyes and mouth smiled graciously as the conversation ends. Business conducted as the observing grossed out mind with now scarred eyes bulleted the body through the door and out of the confined space. 

'Yuck,' the mind grumped judgmentally. 'I guess that's their norm since they didn't seemed to feel any compulsion to stop the nose digging debut until they were well and fully satisfied scratching their selves into relief publicly.' 

Exhausted, the mind congratulated the eyes and body on keeping their countenance while under duress. To see, yet not see, had been stressful.

Written by D.S.B.S. Rhapsody Phoenix,

1 Sometimes a life's proverbial phrase can encourage more questions than inspire optimism

It is said that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But, what if you don't know what lemonade is? How its made? What the key ingredients are? What it is suppose to taste like, when you don't have a comparison? How would you know when its just right and that you've successfully made lemonade? Hmmmm?

D.S.B.S.Rhapsodyphoenix

1 When Life whispers "extend some grace".

In life, there is always a lesson to be learnt from every experience. What you do with, how you implement it and use it, is all up to you. Today I had to pause as I experienced a verbal whiplash by someone I held in high regard. I didn't allow myself to get defensive. Instead I listened. I didn't defend myself. I chose to listen. Why? Because, coming from this source, the behavior, the condescending, the combative defensiveness is not the norm. In fact in the decades of acquainted friendship I have never experienced this atomic verbal explosion. Instead of getting defensive or angry, I grew concerned and decided to not let any of the negatives adhere. I sat quietly on the other end of the line and I listened. There wasn't much I could contribute. I didn't get to same much, there was no room for it, other than the occasional monosyllabic empathic phrase. It was swift, powerful in its delivery. It was more a monologue than a dialogue. At the end of the heated diatribe. I gently hang-up the phone and sat in stunned silence. Taking deep breaths mentally sorted through all that I'd heard. I didn't question myself or examined what I said, there was no need. In the quiet of my self-care reflective check in I realized I'd have to extend some grace into the space of all that I heard, the things that were unsaid but clearly had a voice as it screeched in discordance. The pain, though unnamed echoed in every word and ping-pong in the atmosphere to be claimed. The deafening hysteria. I can do nothing to help. I can fix nothing. I can offer no solace or sucker. No I didn't get mad. I couldn't.  What I can do, and I am doing, is holding a space of grace for which humanness can flow through. 

D.S.B.S.Rhapsodyphoenix

6 In The Waiting Room

'I am late!". I grumbled aloud in my mind. 2:45 pm I paused in front the Clinic's door and put on my mask. Walking up to the medical receptionist I whisper shout with a slight grimace in my tone, "good afternoon, I am sorry. I am late for my 2:30 appointment with the doctor."   

"Oh, that's ok, the doctor is running a little behind with his appointments today. There are two people before you, so have a seat and I will call you."

"Thank you. I will sitting in the chair by the elevator." 

Sitting down on the chair by the elevator where there is less traffic because of the signage "PLEASE USE ELEVATOR ON THE OTHER SIDE" I opened my tote and removed my tablet, pulled up the Overdrive App and selected "ONE PERFECT MOMENT" by A.C. Arthur. As I read, I see a little body dancing around the giant potted plant with a equally large palm tree surrounded by artificial succulent plants and decorative flat stones in varying sizes, stationed in the middle of the waiting room. I paused from my reading and looked up. It was a little girl, twirling her way around and around. As she noted no one paying attention to her she began to satisfy her curiosity by digging up the artificial succulents and the flat stones and rearrange them. No one told her to stop so she proceeded to rearrange the plants to her liking. I looked around to see to whom she might belong but to no avail as no one acknowledge her. This irritated me. As the little girl began testing the boundaries of what she get away with by destroying the arrangement that was not meant to move. At one point she yanked one of the succulents out. "Who does this child belong to, she is destroying the display. It is not meant to be a toy." I said. No one moved, no one claimed her. No one attempted to move or discipline her. 

"Rhapsody, Rhapsody,"

"Yes, right here, I am coming." I saw the medical personnel look at the little girl with a slight irritation on her face. 

"This way, room one."  

"Thank you, may I have the stool in room 2 please. Its very comfortable. 

"Sure, no problem."

"Here you go, Rhapsody."

"Oh thank you so much. Just a word of warning regarding the centre piece outside. You will have to have someone glue back the arrangements, unfortunately the little girl yanked out a few of the succulents."

"I know, I saw, the parents didn't discipline her, the sad thing is when she is older and fail to listen to them they will act surprised." She said rolling her eyes.

At the end of my appointment as i was leaving room one, I saw the little girl and her parents walking into room two. ironically, it was the woman and man who sat not to far from where I sat  in the waiting room. There is no doubt they heard when I asked where is the parent of this child.  They were so tuned out, so disconnected in parenting their child. I just looked at them and shook my head thinking, 'they'll let her tear up the doctor's office and play on the computer that he accesses patience files, while they sit muted like crash test dummies.' 

Word to parents, would be parents & guardians: Children, blessings that they are, takes work, the 24/7 kind of work, they require engagement and guidance . If you are not up to the tasks, please don't have them!!