In the Produce Section: Recognizing A Gift

One advantage of going on a vacation is it gives me the chance to see my own life from a different perspective. Such was the case today, when Greg and I headed out after breakfast to the Stop and Shop in East Falmouth, Mass., to stock up on groceries.

We are staying here for a week with our sons, renting a four-bedroom house with our older son's godfather, his wife and their seven-year-old daughter. Tonight, Greg and I are grilling steak and fish and corn on the cob for everyone. We were shopping for tonight's dinner, but also for food for our family for the next few days.

I don't know about other couples, but it occurred to me that when we grocery shop together, Greg and I are like two parts of a well-oiled machine. Greg and I each enjoy cooking, and we know one another's recipes, and our whole little family's tastes and allergies and culinary quirks. We know them well enough to grab, say, cloves of garlic or almond milk for the other one, pretty much without speaking.  And now that the boys are older, we know what they will enjoy cooking or baking and today we picked up their ingredients at the market.

This might seem like No Big Deal. But to me, it is a recognition of grace - unearned grace given not just in today's venture to the market, but in every one of the happy, angry, lazy, beautiful, loving, irritated moments of our marriage for nearly 20 years.