King of the Road

Get thee to a Trader Joe's. If you've never shopped there, you must. If you have one within a three hour driving distance, you must make the journey! Trader Joes, or TJs as we affectionately call it, is a grocery store that sells healthy, unique items at a greater discount than other unique, healthy grocery stores. We buy coffee, steel-cut oatmeal, chocolate-covered almonds and coffee beans, alphabet cookies, and wine. Not only is TJs a great places to shop it holds a special place in my heart. You see, Trader Joe's had their start in my hometown. Down the street from one of my best friends was a small corner store called Pronto's. I always thought they were a little quirky (I didn't use that word in my teen years, wasn't in my vocabulary, I probably just said, weird!), a type of hippy store (this is the mid 70s for goodness sake!). They later became trader Joe's and now they are all over the country. Now I'm pretty sure the store on Monterey Road was the original TJs but if you look at their website it says it is the store on Arroyo Seco Pkwy.

But I know I have recollection problems with my childhood. When I was a child, around five or six, I was convinced our house was THE house on the block because our number was 709 and the number on the street sign at the corner was 700 - therefore in my little brain, our house was the the King of all houses on our block. No, I didn't think that our next door neighbors or the Chaffees across the street also had a 700 number. I was convinced our house was the leader of all houses.

This complex followed me in school too. I remember we were learning the capitols of countries and the teacher, Miss Dyke, asked the class, "What is the capitol of Canada?" Having cousins in Canada and of course, my cousins are important, because I'm important, as is my entire family, and important people live in important cities like the capitols, I knew I knew the answer. My hand shot up and, of course after I was called upon, shouted, "Toronto!" "No dear, that is a big city in Canada but Ottawa is the capitol." I was devastated. And half-way convinced that Miss Dyke was wrong and I was right! I'm stubborn that way.

I have (or had) a need for validation and a heightened view of my self-importance. I think I've been shot down enough over the years to realize that there's always going to be someone out there who does stuff better than I - cooking, homeschooling, home-organization, blogging, etc. And rather than keeping my eyes on others and what they are doing, comparing the works of their hands to mine, I need to learn contentment and joy in how God made me, continuing to work out those gifts, regardless of how others perform theirs.