What's Essential

 I was asking myself, “What’s essential?” as I navigated the aisles of Whole Foods in search of pomegranate seeds.  Because the economic downturn has had its impact on my family’s investments, “what’s essential?” plays like Muzak in my mind lately.  But hard questions were a distraction in the aisles at Whole Foods where I kept bumping into other shoppers looking for items equally as exotic as pomegranate seeds.

 “Preserved lemons?”  

“Quinoa?” 

Each of us took a turn pestering the stockman for our special food, interrupting his work shelving veggie chips.

I quickly learned that pomegranates were one of those things that I had better not think essential, because Whole Foods was sold out.  Configuring my salad anew, I decided that what was really important was red.  Radishes, tomatoes or peppers might fill the bill and the entire produce section was a field of red choices. Beets, cranberries, apples with red peels—raspberries?  Any of these might work.

But I still wanted pomegranate seeds.  Glancing at my watch I calculated whether I could get to another store and make it home in time to cook.

Then I recognized I had arrived at a ridiculous place.  I was ready to go to whacky extremes to get what I wanted but didn’t need. 

I grabbed a red pepper and drove home.  Knowing when to quit—that’s essential.