Last Friday, before the you-know-what really hit the fan around here, Derek and I went ahead with our planned activities, which included a brief stop at Kohl's to replace his one-and-only polo shirt, a much more involved expedition to Target for household edibles and supplies, and as a reward for our labors, a pleasant interlude of cinema escapism...just for the fun of it. The clothes shopping went fabulously smoothly--perhaps aided in part by the fact that there were far fewer customers than one might expect on an average day, for obvious reasons. Next up was our delightful Date with Disney, in which we were very much enchanted by the magic of Onward (again, in the non-proximal company of only a few other patrons).But the T-store, y'all...that one damn near killed me. First there were the swarms of stressed-out humans, all vying for the limited supplies available. That leads us to--and full disclosure right here, this is something that is making my blood pressure rise on a daily basis at this point--the echoes of profoundly empty shelves. Seriously, good luck finding items like beans, soup, peanut butter, oatmeal...I could go on and on, but you catch my drift. Okay, FINE, we don't actually NEED these things immediately or desperately...although they'd be nice to have in the pantry during this type of, you know, "national emergency" and whatnot.
But WHAT. THE. HELL. with the toilet paper? I mean, we're not out yet, thank the Saint of Paper Products, whoever that may be...but eventually we're going to have to restock, and you can't find the stuff either in person or even online. I'm finding this makes me both furious and anxious, which is a lovely combination, so...yeah, that's pretty much the biggest problem for us right now. And I know--I'm not at all discounting or minimalizing the very real blessing that we're all healthy, and together, at the moment. This situation is just pushing my buttons, probably because I'm a bit (!) of a control freak by nature, and it pains me that I can't "fix" this issue. (But let's not go down THAT particular rabbit hole today, whattya say?)
Whew! On a happier note, once we received the notice that the local library had decided to shut down for the foreseeable future, I managed to slip in and pick up a book I'd had on hold that had just become available--and also curate a stack of...pandemic reading...while I was there. On the way home, I stopped by CVS to purchase over-the-counter remedies that were mentioned as handy to have around, in a common-sense article written by a nurse, that I'd come across on social media. To my great astonishment, I was actually able to obtain these...in appropriate, non-panic quantities for my immediate family, should any of us come down with the virus. However...hand soap...cleaning wipes? Big fat NOPE. How about that "keeping things sanitary" edict, right? Siiiighhhhh....
Meanwhile, in the interest of #SocialDistancing and #FlattenTheCurve (just two of the newly coined terms with which we've all become all too familiar....and also are already beginning to hate, to be honest) bootcamp group is canceled for a while. On the other hand, to #NotLoseOurEverlovingMinds, #GetSomeExercise, and #EnjoyTheFreshAir, a couple of us met up for a walk...on a wide trail, maintaining space between us, not touching, etc. We followed this up with coffee (of course)--which we imbibed outside, after scrubbing and sanitizing our hands. Oy...brave new world is pretty much...a pain in the patootie, isn't it, friends? (Although necessary, blah, blah blah, I get it, and I'm following the program as much as possible...)
Later that evening, the Male Trio and I had to scramble to formulate a Plan B for our originally scheduled programming. You see, when Derek initially found out he'd be home an extra week (ah, the simpler, more innocent Good Old Days) his very first thought was, "Last year I was away at school, and NO ONE filled out a[n NCAA Tourney] bracket. Well, there are no excuses this year, so everyone's doing it!" We figured that since he'd be here for Selection Sunday, we'd get takeout for dinner, watch the broadcast live on ESPN, and make our choices for the field of 64. Ahem...and then collegiate athletics were basically disbanded until the Fall, soooo.....it quickly morphed into "order food and watch a movie instead". Eh, it's still a family bonding opportunity, even without the sports, so I'm gonna call that at least a (purposefully lower-case) win, in these troubled times. We'll take what we can get!
And that carries us up through the weekend, which seems like as good a stopping point as any, so I'm gonna blow the whistle, call time out, stop the clock, and pick back up later. Now let's all get out there and...practice your best separated-by-6-feet sportsmanship! Avoid committing any personal fouls! Let's work together to crush the 2020 National Championship of Hand Washing, and thereby defeat our collective opponent, International Coronavirus! (See, we CAN live without grown men running around in uniforms chasing each other...even if it's making us just a wee bit wackier than usual...or that might just be MEEEEE...catch up with you guys soon!)
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