The country shop..... Change is not always good....

Today was a funny day... funny how a day can turn on you and all you can do is call it funny. It's an Irish thing I guess, you feel an emotion, it could be the hardest day of your life but you'll shrug and say "wasn't today a funny day"
But today was that kinda funny day....
I only went down for a pound of sugar coz tea isn't nice without sugar and it's only €1 in the country shop so you kinda grab at a bargain and while I was there I picked up gravy and medium curry packs coz maybe I don't have them.. I'm not sure when I get there but they're handy to have.... and then the "funny" happened.
I began to feel a difference there. The music I danced to wasn't playing and suddenly I melted into talking to Marian about times past and "Country Shop" memories and it became painful to know that this amazing shop is changing.  Changing in the "fuck I wish it wouldn't kind of way"
My 'today' memories of the Country Shop are easy... every member of staff ask me about my day, about my kids, about my latest book, about my life. It's comfortable and it's home....
But my memories of the Country Shop go way back to when I was a child. I went there with a familiarity I didn't understand at the time. I went there and got recognised and got sent to the kitchen quietly for tea and white soda bread which I got with red jam and I fell into heaven... Maureen Bennett.. Babs Conlon..... Phil Farrell.... Margaret Hoey....I was a child amongst amazing women and I didn't even realise it
Amazing strong incredible women who had amazing men by their side. ....
And now it's changing... now the Country shop I've known and loved and been raised with is leaving my life. And our town has seen the best of shops leave....
I'm lost wondering where I'll go for those little things... who I'll run to when I need to grab gravy while I'm praying the dinner won't burn.... who'll I'll run to for two cooked sausages while I wait for the toast to pop and I'm too lazy to cook sausages... who will I turn to on Christmas morning when I need something I should have remembered to buy the day before
Michael Conlon... thank you for being you... thank you for making me laugh... for dancing and singing randomly at 9am while I'm still half asleep and just wanting one stupid item... thank you for supporting my books... for wanting them to do well.... for selling them with pride.... for coming to the launch of them both... for always striving to be there for everyone else...
Thank you for having a soul that sings louder than most souls... for letting me be a part of a tradition that will never die because we won't let it die
The Country Shop is my shop and a shop that sold more than money can buy....
Thank you for the memories ❤