Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Pat planned hamburgers for supper tonight but I didn’t have any of my veggie burgers left. So I went out just after seven to pick some up. I decided to stop at FreshCo (our Safeway replacement) because it is closer than Quality Foods where I usually shop. I’ve only been in the store once and I didn’t know where to find anything. Of the four items I picked up I had to ask where to find two of them.

As I was pulling into the almost-empty parking lot I wondered if I should go in or drive off and go to my usual shopping spot. I decided that there weren’t many people around and I had my mask and I knew they had sanitizer right inside the door. I had my own bag so I didn’t need to use a cart.

Of course I was fine. When I got home I found this in one of the blogs I follow:

I have had this anxiety for the past week or so. Just a wariness and uncertainty hiding under the surface and I wasn’t quite sure why… While I was out for my walk this morning, I realized that the anxiety was related to everything opening up after the pandemic… It’s a GOOD thing, of course…. something we’ve all been waiting for for sooooo long. But- even good things are stressful if they involve change. While we’ve all been waiting for things to back to “normal,” we don’t really know what things will look like now. What things will go back to the way we remember them, and what things will never be the same again??

Jacquelynne Steves (The Art of Home)

I know just how she feels. We’ve been staying home for so long that I wonder how long it will take to feel comfortable mingling with friends and strangers if going to a different grocery store makes me uneasy.