Be Still My Beating Heart

I'm in love. It happened so suddenly and so unexpectedly that it has left me a little breathless.

I was just going along, doing the things one does with one's evening when one doesn't really have anything one is actually supposed to be doing. Among them was going to the grocery store, pretty much to see what there was to see and to pick up a few things that probably weren't necessary but since I had the time to go I figured I would.

Who knew I'd walk in to my local Safeway with no expectations apart from a few good buys and maybe finding a penny or two on the floor at the cash registers, and walk out with the world at my feet? Certainly not I.

After walking up and down almost every aisle without much to show for my efforts, I went to check on whether my household's favorite ice cream novelty was still on sale, since I intended to eat the last one when I got home. And it's just not nice to do that without at least trying to get more for everyone else, right?

To my consternation, however, they were no longer on sale. I stood there, hand on hip, an ironic yet frustrated smile gracing my face, when a very nice man walked by and chuckled at my expression. He stopped and I learned that he mistook my grin as being overwhelmed by the pretty impressive selection. We chatted and I explained why I was smiling while staring at the spot on the freezer shelf where the sale sign should have been.

And that's when it happened. My heart stopped and the world shrunk down to the wonder I suddenly saw before me...No, no, not him, he had moved on and, nice as he seemed, my attention was elsewhere.

My eye was drawn to a sale tag in the adjacent freezer -- there it was, the one I'd been waiting for all my life. The perfect Ben & Jerry's flavor, Chocolate Therapy, a new limited-edition flavor that I personally believe was conjured right out of my dreams. My hand trembled a bit as I pulled open the door and reached for my piece of personal Nirvana.

Being shameless, we went home together and I dove right in. Who says there's no such thing as heaven on earth?

We expect to be very happy together for as long as it lasts, and we'll be registering soon at a grocery store near you.