My Totally Boring, Extremely Exciting Day of Normal Routine in Abnormal Times

It was Thursday, the day the New York Times called the memorial service in Minneapolis for George Floyd “a somber moment after days of anger and unrest.” I’m sure I don’t have to remind anyone that Mr. Floyd was the black man killed by a white police officer who kept a knee pressed on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds.

I didn’t see the service. By the time it started I had already hopped out of bed a couple of hours earlier than I’ve been doing during the pandemic lock down, had my breakfast, a shower and had taken the dog for a long walk. Ohmygod, it felt good to feel ‘normal’ again, like I had a purpose for getting out of bed after weeks of not caring if I did or not. The governor of Michigan had finally lifted the stay-at-home orders a few days before and I was ready to run some errands. We’re still supposed to use social distancing and masks but that didn’t damper my joy; I’m prepared to do that all summer long if it helps prevent a second wave of the Covid-19 virus.

The sun was shining and my first stop of the day was to drop the dog off for a haircut. The beauty and nail salons in our state are still not free to open up until June 15th so I thought I was being cute when I asked Levi’s groomer if he’d book me for an appointment in his Foo-Foo Doggie Beauty Parlor. He laughed and said everyone is asking him the same question. Next I stopped at the post office where the thin plastic sheets that were hung haphazardly from the ceiling the last time I was there three months ago had been replaced with permanent Plexiglas separating the breaths of customers and clerks. I’ve been using the postal office’s pick up service for my e-Bay sales which is efficient and easy but I’ve truly missed seeing the counter girls, Miss Mary Sunshine and Ms. Grumpy Pants. I wasn’t mailing e-Bay packages though. I had a large box to send off to the postal stamp museum out East after finally getting verification on what one of my blog readers told me. Yes they do, indeed, accept stamp donations for their educational program. It cost me $16.00 in shipping fees and well worth for it for the bragging rights to another successful placement from Jean’s Antiques Adoption Center.

After leaving the post office I went to the dollar store and if there’s a heaven, someone please cover up my dad’s ears when I tell you how much fun I had leisurely strolling up and down their aisles. I only bought a package Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, a can of Pringles and a six pack of Orange Crush but I felt like a million bucks picking out the purchases I didn't need and could have easily done without. Why, you ask, would I not want my dad to know? It's embarrassing to admit this but here's the back story: After we took Dad's driver’s license and car keys away from him five years before he died I was his chauffeur for his weekly dates with his girlfriend and wherever she wanted to go, that’s where Dad wanted me to take them. The choice of fast food places always depended on which place had the best coupons but for all five years, their dates always ended with a trip to a dollar store. And twenty, twenty-five years ago when that was going on I was a dollar store snob. I was convinced the merchandise had been stolen off the back of 18 wheelers and I refused to buy anything off their shelves. I never told Dad how I felt about the place but he probably still knew I was being snobbish because many times I didn't even go inside while they shopped. 

Fast forward twelve years later after my husband died, I found myself shopping a nearby dollar store every time I ran errands because I didn’t want to go home to an empty house. Sorry, Dad, your daughter turned out to be a hypocrite. Sorry to Don (my husband) too who heard me grumble about dollar stores so often I doubt he’d ever been to one. We grow. We soften. We do about-faces and hope no one notices our former snobbery.

After the dollar store adventure I swung back around to pick Levi up from the groomers. It’s across the street from Starbucks and I hadn’t been there since early March when the pandemic shut them down. It’s been open for a couple of weeks but the one time I was near it the line was so long I didn’t want to wait just to say I did it. But Levi is spoiled and he has his routines too and getting a pup-appuccino after a haircut is one of them. Ohmygod, if felt so good to be there! The girl at the takeout window was super upbeat and chatty and she was properly impressed by my ‘pretty boy’ hanging his head out the backseat window. I got a bacon and Gouda sandwich and a S’mores Frappuccino and the two us drove a short distance away, parked under our tree where I thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and my totally boring, extremely exciting day of normal routine in abnormal times. ©