Captain’s Log: Quarantine Day 483
Well, the year is 2020 AD and the earth has had enough of our shit, so she has resorted to viral warfare in the form of COVID-19. Honestly, it should be a warning to us that if we don’t stop crapping up the planet, she will eventually shake us off like a bad case of fleas. With that being said, I have been quarantined inside my house since February, and I’m pretty sure it’s been, in the words of Usher, fiftyeleven days, umpteen hours since I’ve seen anyone other than the one human I live with and my dog. I’m immunocompromised and really not looking to have a flu virus take me out after surviving two strokes, kidney failure, and a heart attack. That just wouldn’t seem fair.
So, to stay as safe as possible, I have been having my groceries delivered and my boyfriend has been braving the outdoors to bring home toilet paper (when available) and supplies. Grocery delivery has been a pretty interesting service during this time of panic-buying and hoarding. One poor guy, Justin, from Instacart, did it last time and had to basically replace everything on the list. He tried so hard, though. He sent me pictures (see slideshow) of the bread and meat aisles in Kroger with nothing in them. He couldn’t get all 10 of my yogurt flavors, but he found six random ones including a single blackberry yogurt which was hidden at the back of the shelf.
Grocery shopping in this manner makes cooking interesting. You might get cream of mushroom soup, but just maybe not in your preferred brand, OR you might get cream of celery, and you just roll with it. You might have planned on having barbecued ribs for dinner, but you ended up with boneless pork chops, so now you’re having pork chops instead, and cream of celery soup for dessert and that’s just life with the Rona.
The deliveries are what I enjoy. Honestly, it’s the only time I get to interact with other people (besides Richy, who is great, but not new and he works most of the day). I have stood at my front door, talking, six feet away, to random delivery strangers for a good seven or eight minutes, just to have a new interaction. I have refrained from actually bribing these strangers not to leave my porch, but I’m not ruling it out as an option in the future.
I’ve seen my daughter, who brought me black market toilet paper, and my son and his girlfriend once since all this started (and I couldn’t hug them which broke my little mommy heart). I’ve got a friend who comes by to check up on me occasionally, and I’ve got Richy. That’s my entire group of interaction during Rona-2020. As a slight introvert, you’d think this would make me a pretty happy house goblin, but it turns out, I’m more inclined to be social than I thought. Either that, or I have a problem with authority and want to only go outside when I’m told I am not allowed to. Either way, I miss people… but I’ll tell you this, if I had to get stranded in a house with only one person and one dog, I’m glad I have the ones that are here.
