Your over-the-counter sleep aid, the detergent used to wash your favorite gym shorts, the microwave popcorn habit you could never kick, the food you feed your adopted puppy, the coffee you buy to brew at home because the food you feed your adopted puppy tastes better than your office coffee, and exactly what sort of texture (and perhaps scent) of toilet paper you prefer to wipe your ass.
The items on a grocery list hold only a fraction of the story of the person behind it.
What sort of paper it was written on...
Stationery with a schoolhouse and a Bible quote
Hotel letterhead
A post-it
On the back of some unrelated print-out
Personal professional stationery
Back of a business card
Back of a napkin
Torn off piece of paper
Typed out master grocery list with items circled
Handwriting...
Manic, serial killer, all caps
Looks like your grandmother's
Obviously inked by an engineer
Carefully drawn letters of a control freak
Inconsistent, moody, identity crisis, multiple personality... or collaboration of more than one person
Written in a rushed, diagonal on the post-it fashion
Editing...
Place an "X" next to each item once in cart
Scribble through with fierce anger
Strike-through once
Leave alone, no written indication of whether item was picked up or not
Edit multiple times before even making it to the store
Other non-grocery list related items on list (phone numbers, directions, etc.)
Spelling and grammar and abbreviations...
R-berries
Deoderant
Veg
Desert
Frozen brocoli
Snack's
Categories...
Items in parentheses
Items with question marks
Items categorized by store and/or aisle
Items with no specifics: white soda; lunch meat
And any accompanying quirks such as hearts to dot the letter i, budget analysis for grocery trip, an EKG, and individuals' names linked directly to a listed item... always good.
I have over 5 years' worth of collected grocery lists that I'd like to share. Hope you enjoy as I add them.
