Life is a collection of grocery store discount cards
The majority of my father’s key chain and the contents of his wallets are nothing more than shabby pieces of plastic and barcode, granting him a few cents off or a buy-one get-one free deal at Shop Rite or A&P. He possibly has 10 around his car keys alone. It’s quite the metaphor really, that as you collect more discount cards they are really symbolizing life changes.
Last night I was shopping the aisles of the South Burlington Price Choppers (for the record, I fail to see how “chopped” their prices are) and figured I should apply for said discount card to maybe shave a few bucks off my weekly grocery totals. Their card is called the “AdvantEdge”
Get it? Because it is an “advantage” to have it, but it is also “edgy.” Well, apparently it’s edgy. Maybe they should put some racing strips on the back along with the serial number. I digress; As I slipped my “AdvantEdge” card onto the keyring I could backtrack every physical move (to another state/country) since the day I started buying food for myself. It nestled perfectly between my apartment key and the Fletcher Allen Free Public Library keycard (Burlington), my Super Fresh discount card (Philadelphia) and the similarly designed A&P and Shop Rite cards (from New Jersey).
I went home, removed all but the library and chopper’s card, and tried to feel a bit younger. “The next of many.”
