Home delivery

There are a few things that most of us like to keep available to us at all times. Some people want to make sure the fridge is continuously stocked with soda or beer. If you start running low, you make sure to stock up before you get to the end of your supply.  That way you have uninterrupted access to whatever consumable you'd like to have available to you whenever you have a whim.

For me, it's gum. I might be addicted, I admit. I like to have Ice Cubes spearmint gum in my purse at all times, and I have a piece several times a day. Driving to work, after my morning tea, after lunch, before class, after exercising.  There are ten pieces in a box.  You can probably imagine that I go through several boxes a week.

So I'm constantly reminding Noel to buy gum for me whenever he's at the store. It's not an easy item for the shopping list, I admit. At the grocery store, they only have the gum in individual boxes at checkout. Noel has to basically clean out the display. At Target you can get larger packages, little tubs that are the equivalent of four or five boxes. So we stock up on those when we're at Target, which might be once a month.

Noel wrote me a satirical poem after the last time I reminded him to get me gum:

Me

Buying you

Four packs of gum

Is my way of saying

Shut up already

About not having enough gum.

Today I decided to take another tack in feeding my gum habit. I set up an Amazon subscription, which is a wonderful thing if you have an item you hate to be without. Free shipping, a discount, have your favorite food or drink shipped to you in a quantity you specify, on a schedule you set (every month, two months, etc.), and get notified before each shipment so you can cancel that once if you are fully stocked.  It's like the Columbia Record and Tape Club without the commitment.

So now my gum will be arriving on the doorstep, and Noel will be freed from the frustration of not being able to find enough for me. Frankly, I'll be freed of that frustration too.  So I've written my own poem.

Me

Signing up

To have my gum 

Delivered monthly

Is my way of saying

Please add the box they come in

To your recycling pile.