Decisions, decisions. I make them all day long. It's my job. It's also why I don't like to make them if I don't have to. What's for dinner? I don't really care, as long as it's quick, easy, and not sushi. But, sometimes decisions just have to be made. Case in point, a trip to the grocery store.

            First, there's the issue of which store to go to. I live within a reasonable driving distance of two Giant supermarkets. One is just a few miles up the road. The other is a little farther but generally offers a larger selection. So, before I even get in the car I have to decide just how much stuff I need and whether I'm willing to go the extra mile to get it.

            Once I've made peace with my choice of stores, I commence shopping, armed only with a couple of coupons and a cart with a contrary wheel. You'd think I'd have it down by now. After years of watching my mother shop, and after years of shopping on my own, you'd think it would get easier. But, you'd be wrong.

            A few weeks ago, for example, my shopping list included laundry detergent. I generally don't have a brand preference here. I'll often let coupons dictate my choice. On this particular trip, I had a coupon for a brand of detergent named "Wisk". And that's where my trouble started.

            When I arrived at the detergent aisle, I found Wisk with no problem. The problem is, I found Wisk for grass stains, wrinkle-reducing Wisk, color-safe bleach Wisk, and, if I recall correctly, dye-free Wisk. What's a poor shopper to do? The coupon only covered one bottle, so a decision HAD to be made.

            OK. Deep, cleansing breath. I don't roll around in the grass as much as I used to, and I don't have kids, so there's really no need for a detergent that guarantees to get out those extra grass stains. My clothes don't make me break out in rashes, so there's no need to go dye-free. All that thinking left me with a headache and a choice still to be made between wrinkle-reducing Wisk and color-safe Wisk.

            What to do, what to do. Let's see. Many of my clothes contain color, so color-safe would be good. I also end up ironing many of my clothes, so wrinkle-reducing would be good, too. Clearly, this is not going to be easy. Well, it says "wrinkle-reducing," not "wrinkle-eliminating." So, even if I get wrinkle-reducing Wisk, my clothes will still have wrinkles, and I'll still have to iron them. Meanwhile, my colors could be running all over the place, and I didn't see any kind of "color-restoring" detergent on the shelves. So, by a process of elimination, I decided on the color-safe Wisk. I'm comfortable with that decision. In fact, when I got home, I discovered that it's the same kind I decided on last time.

            Now, if only I could figure out some way to pick the shortest check-out line.

(October 2002)