Only Here

There's only one grocery store in all of Assiniboia. Apparently there used to be another one but it burnt down a few years ago. Even when it was up, I hear that it a bit of a sketchy store anyway. The CO-OP has membership stuff, like most other places I guess, and whenever you go up to pay for your things, they usually ask for your number. I have no idea what the number does for you, earn points or other things. Obviously, I don't have a card, and I don't really plan on getting one because I'm only here until Christmas, so I don't feel like it'd benefit me all that much to carry one around. I never shop at CO-OPs elsewhere.

After the first couple visits with the awkward "I don't have a number," I decided that it'd be a waste if I just went to pay without reaping in some kind of benefits for the groceries I'm buying. It was then that I came up with the brilliant idea to just take these opportunities to ask the person behind me for their number and use theirs. It's been pretty cool so far. Each time I asked the person to see if they wanted to use their number, they met the chance with a smile and thanked me. It's pretty cool to be able to do this because I've never really done these sorts of randon acts of kindness things that so many people swoon themselves over when they see other people doing it. Things like paying for the person behind them's drive-through, etc. So hopefully allowing the people of this town to get something out of what could be nothing can make their days a little better.

I also believe that one of the greatest honors and compliments that anyone could ever receive is when someone says, "this guy is going to go far." I think I've said it so few times that I can tell you who exactly I've thought of or talked about that could go far in life. When I think about them now, they're either making it really big, or are well on their way. To me, though, the people that I feel this way about are pretty obvious that they're going to be successful, meaning it doesn't take a talent scout or super high ranked CEO to notice that they're gifted.

Since coming here, which has been a little over a month now, I've been told on three occasions that this has been said about me: twice indirectly by someone, and once said directly to me - and in all three cases, it was coming from people who are well respected given who they are in and around the church/district. It's probably the most humbling thing for me to hear because I really don't think of myself as someone who could be that successful in life. I can see why it is, if I were able to "make it," that I would turn out well, but never thought that it'd be attainable. There's so many other people that are far more capable than I am, so hearing that people think highly of me is one of the biggest blessings I can ever receive. I actually think that both my siblings have much more potential than I do, so if they do in fact meet my expectations for them, then maybe I won't actually be that much better off. Haha. At the same time, it reminds me of the incredibly high expectations that are both had on me and the ones that I have for myself. So hopefully it's something that can actually motivate me rather than cause me to crawl into a corner trying to get away from the pressure.