A dozen eggs. 3 lemons. Unsalted butter. Cream cheese. Your favorite blueberry jam. A jar of salt after your mother called my cooking ‘bland‘ when she thought I couldn’t hear her. A bag of tortilla chips. A box of ginger ale and imported Japanese whiskey because we’re way too old to be mixing margaritas and cocktails for guests during dinner parties. Strawberry yogurt that reminded you of your childhood. New toothpaste. Anti-dandruff shampoo. Chunky Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies for the ‘emergency period rations’ you cheekily put together. Dishwashing liquid. A new pair of gloves. A loaf of bread. 2 cartons of Soy Milk to replace the boxes that spoiled in the fridge after our getaway trip when you confessed under the glow of the moon something along the lines of ‘we could be sitting down calculating our monthly bills and I’d still be happy’ and you thought you were so clever but I recognized that line from a movie and I told you I did, and all you did was laugh and I knew from that moment on that you were all I wanted to love for the rest of my lifetime, so here we are doing our grocery list of things to fill up our home, for the first time filled with deep calm, on the cusp of what feels like meaningful, sublime, delicate contentment. This is the softest I will ever become. Budget: ₱4,999. Don’t forget the membership card.