Diet Pepsi and small town grocery store observations

We got a lot of snow the past couple days. I forgot a few things during my pre-snow shopping trip, so I drove out to the Kroger in town. I live in a small college town. The students make up 80% of the population, and when they’re gone, it’s just a bunch of farm town locals. I grew up in suburbia, so I’m used to grocery shopping that’s quiet and private. You only talk to someone to say, “Ope, excuse me.” If you accidentally make eye contact with someone else, you’ve got to do the little polite smile thing that’s friendly but not conversation-starting.

But here, it seems like everyone knows everyone. The self-checkout attendants are constantly distracted, talking to friends and family that come into the store. Old folks block isles catching up. Today I was checking out and behind me, I heard an employee say, “Dale, what are you doing here?” Followed by, “You came all this way for Diet Pepsi?” I turned and saw an older man wearing outdoorsy, farmer-looking winter clothing holding a 24-pack of Diet Pepsi cans. He gave a muffled response that I couldn’t hear.

I always find it interesting the little glimpses you get into people’s lives, in this town in particular. I thought about that interaction as I drove home, slipping in the snow. Maybe he drove out because that’s his wife’s favorite drink and he’s trying to do something kind for her. He probably lives a decent drive outside of town, maybe off a backroad that the limited snowplows don’t get to. Maybe he came into town to pick up a hot meal for his family and was stopping for drinks at the store. I’ll never know, I don’t really need to know. But I enjoy these brief moments that allow me to wonder about the people I see. There was the older woman at the deli counter talking with the employee about her grandson’s birthday cake, which made me think about my own grandma. A year ago, I remember an old man and an old woman catching up, something about her husband spending so much time everyday on the tractor. You’ll hear the cashiers occasionally talk with family friends, perhaps talking about seeing each other at church next week. Oh and there’s always the man in the dairy section restocking who seems to know everyone, going over the top telling people about deals and specials they’ve got going on.

You just don’t see that back home. Maybe it’s because my hometown’s population is 12 times as much as this town’s regular population. Maybe it’s that my hometown has 20ish places to buy groceries, while this one has 2. Or, maybe it’s because this town’s residents are permanent, while my hometown sees a revolving door of military families coming and going depending on parental stationing. I’m just not used to this. I like seeing this side of the town, I can’t stand when my fellow students are here. It’s loud and filthy when they’re here, it covers up the amiable and proud permanent residents. I hated this town when I first moved here (mostly because I hated living on-campus). But now, in my second year living off-campus, treating this apartment like my actual home, I’m really going to miss this place when I graduate. I move back home next summer, I’ve got to find an apartment to move to. But I’m going to miss these people I don’t know, I’m going to miss the atmosphere they generate effortlessly. I don’t really have a reason to come back after I graduate, though I feel the local pizza place I adore is the closest to a good reason. I’ve got maybe seven more months here, I’m going to enjoy it while I can. Maybe as much as Dale enjoyed his Diet Pepsi tonight.