Pickup, Spot #1

April 1, 2020

Melissa got a text this morning letting her know our grocery order of yesterday was ready to be picked up.  All we needed to do was park in the lot, let them know we were there, and our order would be brought to our car.  I was still a little skeptical but was assured everything would work.  We drove to the store and pulled into the lane normally reserved for pickup orders.  When Melissa called to let them know we were there they asked what numbered spot we were in?  There were no numbered spots in our area.  We asked an employee standing nearby and he said he didn’t know.   Apparently, they had moved the pickup area due to the large number of orders.  Once we got to the right place, we parked a safe distance from another car and very shortly received our order.

What surprised us both was the full parking lot and constant stream of people going in and out of the store.  Many of these were families.  It seemed “groceries” has become an excuse for a family outing.  About half of those entering the store were wearing masks and gloves, but age didn’t seem to make any difference.  Even though the store provided special hours for seniors, about half of the people we saw entering were older than us.

I did find it interesting as we drove to the store to see the effect of distancing.  When we drove by one grocery market cars were parked in the front of the lot away from the rest of the customers.  I assume these were workers.  They had been parked with an empty stall between each vehicle.   We also drive by a house with a waterfall built to cascade down the hill with a family of three deer statues standing nearby.  When we went by today the doe and fawn had been moved about twenty feet away from the buck.  Both cases seemed social distancing at its best.

THOUGHTS:  Every doctor and nurse interviewed makes it clear that how well we choose to stay away from each other is going to decide the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic.  We have seen cities and countries refusing to distance and the result has been high infection rates and over-extension of hospitals.  We have seen others who voluntarily choose to distance, or are forced to distance, and the number of new infections has begun to go down.  It is not a case of young or old or sick or well.  We are all in this together.