monday supermarket adventure, nyc braces for coronavirus

It was Sunday night, a traditional dinning out day for my family. We decided to go to a Mediterranean restaurant. As we headed home filled with hummus and grape leaves, we received a desperate text message from my teenage daughter, who had stayed home to study for a school test.

“There is a case of Corona Virus in NYC,” she said.

After reading her text, immediately I thought: “It’s coming to get us. This is the end my friend.”

Earlier in the day, my nephew visited us from LA, on a red eye flight. Carrying his facemask in his hand, he admitted he wore it until dinner time. After that, the mask sat on top of his tray which was carefully sterilized with kitchen wipes.

All of this sparked my Jewish Mother guilt. “Where have I been?”

This whole past week my husband has been alerting me about the downfall of the stock market, all while I secretly dream about my upcoming birthday celebration.

And now, my children are warning me about the dangers of the new deadly virus, while I am here writing on Facebook, with my head in the clouds counting how many likes I have on my last post.

“Where are my masks? Hand sanitizer?”

As I lie my head on the pillow I worry about my family, my friends, my dog and the rest of the humanity.

It is Monday morning. I wake up late, all this worrying kept me awake. Despite feeling overly tired from my insomnia, I run to the pharmacy and start browsing the aisles searching for … yes, hand sanitizer.

And here is when the nightmare starts: THERE IS NONE LEFT on the shelves!! No Purell, Baby Genics, Clean Well, Clean Fine, I love Clean anything that makes me feel safe. NONE.

So, I decide to move on and head to the organic supermarket near my house.

The lines… oh the lines… it would make any Disney World marketer jealous! People with their carts filled with water, no perishable items and all sorts of excesses piled up from all over the store.

Then I had a brilliant idea.

“Why don’t I buy it here? The overpriced organic, no alcohol, hand sanitizer that I really never believed would work until now-”

I run to the aisle. Nothing there. I ask the store clerk: “Sorry lady, we are sold out on those”

I panic.

As I wait in line to pay for my chicken, I decide to browse Amazon on my iPhone.

Yay! I am able to find a Purell bottle for $188!!! Are you serious? I ask my phone.

To my surprise it replies right back to me, “Sorry I’m still not sure about that.”

I don’t have the masks and now, not even the sanitizer!! BAD PARENT, I thought.

I rush out of the supermarket. On my way home, a homeless man holds a sign asking for food.

“I lost my job and my home, please help.” I stop to read the sign, place a dollar in his bucket and keep walking home as fast as I can.

I greet the doorman, walk to elevator, press the button with my sleeve, open the door and run to the bathroom cabinet searching for any Purell bottles that could be stocked in my medicine box.

I find them! Yay! My family is safe!

But wait a moment…. The expiration date… 2016??? Damn it! Does hand sanitizer expire? As I dump them in the trash, my guilt rises.

Taken by fear but motivated to keep things at home as normal as I can, I move on to run errands and make sure dinner is ready when my family gets home.