Milk's Favorite Cookie

Since we've been married, going to the grocery store on Saturdays is one of our most constant traditions.  Few and far between have been the Saturday that did not find us at the grocery store.  Hallie came into our family, and we packed her into the car with us on our way to the grocery.  Hanna joined the family, and we adopted her into the weekly store going ritual.  Heather has yet to be introduced to this family outing, but no worries, her time will come.

Because of the fact that we nearly always go to the store together, it took me a long time to figure out one priceless bit of knowledge.  For whatever reason when I, for whatever reason, do not go to the store with Devin he always comes home with some little treat (or treats!) for me.  At first it was just random and surprising, how delightful! What made you buy this for me?  As some of you may know, Devin is very strict with our grocery budget.  And so each time I opted out of the family trip and he came home with some delicious goodie I was filled with wonder.  At some point he figured it out himself - that he is more likely to buy me things I crave when I am not with him, than he is to be talked into buying it when I am at the store actively craving it.  Some sort of interesting psychological factor at play here, but I don't know what.

This morning I showed Devin the sale ad, and told him a cute story about how Hallie saw the Oreos were on sale, and it was all she talked about.  Devin continued to stoically eat his lunch, and I let it drop, knowing that Oreos were hardly on the approved list of items to buy.  When it came time to go to the store I wasn't ready, and wasn't really feeling up to it anyway, and so they left without me.  After they had left I thought to myself, "well, there go my chances of getting Oreos - if I'm not there to talk him into them there's no way he'll pick them up."  I didn't put much hope in Hallie's powers of persuasion.  Ah, but I had forgotten the mysterious facet of Devin's psyche that urges him to buy things for me when I am not there that he would never buy for me when I am.

The garage door opened, and the first thing Devin said as they walked in was, "You'll never guess what Hallie is carrying." and I looked up, and she walked in carrying a precious blue package with white lettering.  If you don't know what that is, I pity you.

We enjoyed our treat after dinner, and as I was finishing my - well, let's not worry about how many I had eaten, shall we? - I said to Devin, "You'd better hide these tonight, or there won't be any left tomorrow."  to which Devin responded

"I'm not going to hide anything.  You're just going to have to have self control."  Now, Oreos and self control aren't really a great match for me, but when your husband is right, he's right.  So I told myself to have some self control, and I poured myself a tall glass of Raspberry Crystal Light.  At this time Devin said, "But why aren't you drinking milk with your Oreos?"

To which I ressponded, "I'm trying to have self control.  If I am even going to attempt such a thing I can't play around with milk.  Oreos, after all, are its favorite cookie, and how am I supposed to stop eating them then?"

Devin casually stood up and walked over to the fridge/cupboard area, where he roams and prowls looking for his after dinner snacks.  He came back with a tall frothy glass of milk and put it in front of me, the crinkly blue package of Oreos next to it.  What is this man doing to me?

"Temptation, thy name is Devin, and thou wearest blue jeans."  I said as I gulped down my milk.  Devin turned from the cupboard and laughed at me.

And let me tell you my friends, Devin laughing at something I've said, especially when it was completely ridiculous, is a treat they don't sell at the grocery store.