Do you know what the item in the picture above the title of this story is?
I pride myself on knowing where everything is in my house and this particular trait (or quirk?) has served me well since my vision loss. I can find it not because I can see it, but because I know exactly where it is.
It was long overdue that my husband and I clean out all the kitchen drawers. In most cases, only a bit of reorganization was needed, but we did unearth a relic from the past.
While I washed all the large cooking utensils kept in one of the drawers, Mister Rain said my name. Turning towards him, he held up a yellow plastic box in both hands, an offering to the gods of grocery shopping past. It was our old coupon box.
Placing it on the counter, we both took a step back. I searched my memory to determine how we, as a society, had gone from routinely clipping coupons to forgetting they ever existed.
Remember double coupons??? And the stories of families who were able to get their weekly groceries for mere cents because of their masterful use of coupons? I can recall swapping the paper savings with family members because I knew they bought a certain kind of ketchup while they gave me those for the shampoo they were aware I purchased. In those days, if you weren’t using coupons, you were throwing money away. It took me back to my mom, my mother-in-law and, for some reason, my permed hair, all gone now. I could drive back then, easily shop on my own. It was a different time; in a lot of ways, it was a different life.
Moving closer to stand before this archeological find, My husband reverently opened the box. Inside were category tabs, a few remaining coupons and a Black & Decker Snip-ez. That’s right, we had a special tool used solely to cut coupons. This was very serious business.
Finishing our project, Mister Rain asked if I wanted to keep the box. “No, but place it gently in the recycle bin. For a lot of years that little yellow coupon box was worth savings.”
#sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #legallyblindwriter #writer #writersofinstagram #humaninterest #life #lifeisgood #lifestories #anartifactworthsavings
