Deployment brain

Earlier this summer, my parents came up for a visit. I asked Sgt. K if he could run out to the store to pick up some spinach so I could make a big salad for lunch. He came back with this:

So I was like, "How am I supposed to make a salad out of that?"


I had forgotten about deployment brain, the term we've used to describe the moments when the part of his brain that handles common sense just doesn't work the way it's supposed to. (And being a boy, that part of his brain never really worked that well to begin with.) 

Ever since Sgt. K came home, he finds the grocery store incredibly overwhelming. That scene in The Hurt Locker, where Jeremy Renner is frozen in the cereal aisle is exactly how it is. So usually my grocery lists are really specific, right down to the brand name and size. Because I wasn't specific this time, Sgt. K wandered around Jewel looking for something that said, "spinach" on the package. He also went to the store right after going to the VA, which always makes deployment brain even worse.

His explanation: "I know we're trying to save money. This was the cheapest!" 

Well, I can't be angry at him for not trying. At least he didn't come home with that nasty canned stuff that Popeye eats.