Coronavirus Pandemic Day 33 - Running the Grocery Guantlet

This morning, DH had his checkup with our primary care physician. I dropped him off and made a quick trip to Kroger around the corner. It was my turn to brave the public since he'd been doing it for the last four weeks.

We'd run out of staples such as olive oil, butter, and flour since I've been cooking up a storm with the state-wide stay-at-home order. Thank Cthulu, the Starbucks kiosk was open, too! I also splurged on white cake with buttercream frosting. Kroger has the next best thing to homemade buttercream frosting!

Oh, and I sort of raided the leftover Easter candy for Reese's Eggs and got some cute colored pens, well, because...

Everybody was keeping their distance as best they could inside the store. One kid was moving back and forth between cleaning carts and the main doors. Everybody, staff and shoppers, looked tired as hell and sad. The enforced distancing is wearing on people's emotions. Humans as a whole are touchy-feely creatures. I'm lucky in that I have DH and Bella at home for contact.

Some folks aren't as lucky. There was an elderly lady shopping who looked like she was expecting to be stabbed at any moment. She was that jumpy even with her mask and gloves on. And I could tell by her selections she was alone at home. Part of me wanted to hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

But that's a lie. I know it's a lie. And she would have known it, too. We've got a long way to go to stop the spread of COVID-19.

It seems like every other day now we get word of a friend or family member of someone we know has died from this damn virus. It's only a matter of time before it's someone we actually know.

But as a long-time friend and a new friend told me this weekend, each of us needs to focus on self-care because we can't help anyone if we're not okay.

And if that means white cake with buttercream frosting and new colored pens to draw pictures with, then that's what I'll do.