I’ll be heading to Connecticut in the morning and won’t be back until Friday evening, so as an act of mercy to my husband, today’s trip to the grocery store was heavy on convenience foods.
As I as checking out, the cashier ringing me up paused over an enormous bag of frozen chicken patties.
“I love these,” she told me.
“Me too.”
“Not so much for me,” she explained, and I knew just what she meant.
“Me too.”
“It’s just that they’re so … easy,” she said.
I smiled and nodded.
“I always wonder, though,” she went on, “when I make something like that, did I actually cook dinner?”
I did not hesitate. “Yes,” I told her. “Yes, you did.”
And now it was her turn to smile. She gave the bag an affectionate pat before sending it down the conveyor belt.
“You’re absolutely right.”