Last week I did something a little bit fancy and bought myself a flower subscription. (I always pledged never ever to buy anything from Bouqs because the name is so god damn stupid but society is crumbling around us, so why not change my policy on this one thing?) I feel like I might not end up keeping the subscription for very long but then again who knows. Until I decide otherwise I’m getting fresh flowers delivered twice per month and it is probably going to bring me a lot more joy than home delivery of The New York Times.
I’ve sent a lot of flowers lately. I sent some to my mom for Mother’s Day, and then my sister-in-law’s grandmother died last week so I sent an arrangement to the funeral home. That funeral was on a Friday. On the following Wednesday, my sister-in-law’s grandfather died. So I sent another arrangement to the same funeral home. I know things are pretty bleak for…well, everyone currently, but this all seems like such incredibly sad timing.
Late last week I went to Whole Foods and pretty much immediately regretted it. There was a wait to get in, something I’d managed to avoid at grocery stores up to that point. All of the windows were boarded up, I’m guessing out of the ever-popular “abundance of caution.” Whole Foods is not in an area that saw any protests last week but the store is essentially a big glass box so I guess it made sense to someone to do it, but when I realized this I felt my old friend fight-or-flight well up in my chest. Once inside the store, I felt even worse. It was dark because of the boarded-up windows and the vibe was tense and sad. Many of the shelves are still very sparse and there are a lot of signs up limiting purchases. The hot bar and salad bar are of course closed and now the single socially-distanced checkout line snakes between them, as if we are waiting to get on the world’s most boring amusement park ride. Ohio may be “open” now but there is nothing “normal” about it.
I want to note for the record that I’m not complaining, exactly, about waiting in lines or the dried pasta selection being picked over. I understand safety measures are necessary, in fact I welcome them. I’m fine with buying one box of pasta. They are just reminders of how wrong everything is.
Early this week I went to see my parents, an experience that gets more deeply strange every time. My mom requested Arby’s for lunch, and I literally don’t think I’ve had Arby’s in…20 years? Maybe more? My dad at one point revealed that he is straight-up STEALING extra disinfecting wipes from the farm market when he goes. He takes a Ziploc bag for this purpose. A premeditated crime! He has absolutely no remorse about it.
My dad is 79 and watches The Daily Show and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, or at least what passes for them these days, religiously. This is likely why he is a big fan of Sarah Cooper and also might explain his recent questions about what a TED talk is. His intellectual curiosity alone will keep him alive for another 25 years, provided he does not end up in the pokey for cart wipe theft.
On my days off this week I filled two bags with clothes to give away. I’m also getting rid of many mismatched sheets and pillowcases, some very ratty bath towels, and our everyday dishes. It is an exaggeration to say that our dishes have been the bane of my existence, but right now we are using a combination of a set I bought at Walmart when I moved into my first solo apartment before the turn of the century and the set my husband and I bought at IKEA in Pittsburgh when we moved in together ten years ago. It’s time to spend $100 on four place settings, for pity’s sake.