A Trip to MY Grocery Store

I went to the grocery store today for the first time since I gave up my job.

There are many stores closer to our new home but I had to pick up a check and fill out forms to request vacation time, to help meet the financial challenges of quarantine and do other employment related things...

...plus buy groceries.

I spent a lot more than I usually do but I bought ahead in some things.

A local church and a local grocery store are teaming up to deliver groceries to the residents of the home based, I guess, on telephone orders. Hopefully, for a while, we'll be able to get deliveries of perishable items.

I'm doing my best to live by the spirit of the quarantine. We're permitted to go to the grocery store and the pharmacy but we're to limit our trips off campus as much as possible.

And, the quarantine is working here. There are still no cases of COVID-19 here. At my mom's home, a twenty minute drive away, there've already been four deaths and more than 30 cases.

I'm doing my best to live by the spirit of the quarantine. My guess is that some of the geezers here are not...though, as time goes on, I think I'm seeing more masks being worn.

I wore the mask provided by the home, sanitized my hands twice and put the clothes I wore in the wash as soon as I returned the shopping to its place.

Also, to my surprise, when I was finished I realized that I am absolutely EXHAUSTED. And, I'm not sure why. It might be that, breathing through the mask, I wasn't getting enough oxygen.

And, it may be emotional. I felt very conflicted being around my friends who are still working, while I am not.

I had mixed feelings when I was in the store, most of them negative, but some sweet. I absolutely love my coworkers and, so, I was glad to see the people who were working.

But, I have a real sense that I've left them down.

While I don't believe that humans practice leadership in the Kingdom of God, I believe that I am in a position of leadership on my job and my sense is that I was an effective leader, one who achieved followership...

...and, in choosing to join in the quarantine at the home, I have a sense that I failed as a leader. (I understand that I didn't have a choice, but feelings don't operate on the basis of logic.)

Anyway, our store does paper isle stuff well. And, I was able to buy one pack of 12 toilet paper rolls and a pack of three boxes of tissue...

...and I did it with a clear conscience.

Since Evie has a colostomy, we need to be careful not to run out, and my allergies are already screaming, at the beginning of April. I'll go through many boxes of tissues before the spring allergy season passes.

And, I could have bought paper towels and didn't.

Ah, the ethics of grocery shopping during a pandemic.

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I walked in the apartment as Evie was getting an update on mom's condition from the home.

Not good. She's moving to skilled care, the highest level of care.

More on that later, on Facebook, at least.