Dr. Laura, 

I just heard your call of the day with Sarah and how her 10-month-old loves the trips to the grocery store. I tell you, I don't need to squint real hard to remember that was my favorite place as a kid, too. It was magical - all those colors, smells, lights, aisle after aisle after aisle.  And the toy aisle! Never did get all I wanted, of course, but those shelves of toys stretched up to high Olympus. I wore myself out just looking at everything. And after all that, the penny horse ride on the way out. I felt like royalty atop my steed, all the kingdom pushing their carts past and winking at me. I'd been to places with Ferris wheels and cotton candy, but they were nothing compared to the grocery store. And Mom knew it. It got to the point where she stopped buying the week's worth of groceries and went every other day for a few items instead. 

Oh and to all you grocery shoppers in northern Ohio in the early seventies, if you're wondering where all the Chiquita banana stickers went, I stuck them over every inch of my body. 

John