Grocery shopping

This morning I went to Trader Joe’s for the first time in nine months. The closest one to us is only a couple blocks away, and pre-pandemic I was there at least once a week. When it was no longer safe to be shopping in stores, we transitioned to Fresh Direct deliveries, and now that we’ve gotten used to it we decided that TJ’s didn’t have anything so essential it was worth the extra exposure, not to mention the inconvenience of lugging things home. So it fell out of the rotation.

But, with Christmas around the corner I thought we deserved something a little festive, so I decided to get out ahead of the daily shoppers and attempt to pick up some of our old favorites. The experience was oddly emotional. Immediately upon entering the store I was struck by the difference in my own mindset compared to the last time I was there. There were other more tangible changes as well — far fewer shoppers, placeholders six feet apart in the checkout line, some of our favorite products being retired or out of stock — but I was more preoccupied with how what used to be a rather fun, leisurely activity was now fraught with danger and scarcity. Whereas before I would casually browse for interesting new products to try, now I was worrying about how much each passing minute would increase my exposure to a deadly disease, and trying to figure out how many cans of oranges versus boxes of frozen Indian food I could fit in my cart so that…