Tuesdays.

This is the day we go shopping for market supplies. This changes so rarely, that we are well known everywhere we go.

They know our order at the coffee shop, they recognize us at The Restaurant Store and the boys are always disappointed if Mike isn’t at the exit at Costco, because he has cool stamps to put on their hands.

Yea, I am a creature of habit… because life flows smoother and less things are forgotten if you create routines and rhythms.

We’ve got a schedule that runs like a well oiled machine.

Tuesdays: (before the coronavirus.)

I get everyone up at 7:00.

Then I make breakfast, pack Kenzie’s lunch, and urge everyone to get dressed.

We keep stepping, we’re not stressed but we don’t have time to stand still.

Then there’s hair to comb, Myles to dress, table to clear. Laundry to start. Shoes. Jackets. Purse. Water bottles. And finally we’re all buckled in and headed out.

I check the clock.

If we’re in the car by 7:50: we’re doing great. 7:55: Good. 8:00: running late. 8:05: we might not be at school on time!😳

(Dirty dishes, crumbs on the floor, clothes that missed the hamper? Yea, that was all left undone.🤫)

We drop Kenzie off at school.

Then we head to creek side for our week’s worth of groceries.

Next stop is the coffee shop, because coffee keeps the stress levels down.🤓 There is always a line. Precious minutes tick by, I consider eliminating this stop, but we keep coming back because coffee is essential right? Not to mention, my boys would be devastated, if they had to miss out on their chocolate milk, it is after all the one thing that makes this trip worthwhile in their opinion.

Then we head to the bank. The bank ladies hand out lollipops.

Next stop is The Restaurant Store. We get there slowly as we rather impatiently follow a car going 35 when the speed limit is 55 (also known as 65🤫)

We pass a cop and quickly check the speedometer, oh right, we’re barely moving.

We finally pick up our order at The Restaurant Store, then head to Costco. At Costco… there is people. A lot of people. It’s a ‘don’t look around or you might have to talk to someone kinda place.’ We stop for a couple samples, but mostly we are on a mission to get out of there in one piece. Occasionally we grab lunch on our way out, then we hold up the line while Mike chats with the boys and stamps smiley faces onto their hands. They love him🙂

Then, finally, we escape.

We get home around 11:30, about 3 1/2 hours later.

Tuesdays: After The Coronavirus arrives.

The kids get up on their own around 7-7:30.

We goof off, then eat breakfast.

We clean up our breakfast mess, get our stuff together and climb into the mini van around 8:45. There’s no schedule that must be kept, since Kenzie isn’t going to school.

First stop is the coffee shop, because we gotta support small businesses right? 🤓 There is no line. We’re in and out in about 5 minutes.

Next stop: Creekside, there’s very few people. We shop in record time and are on our way again.

There is no lollipops being handed out at the bank. The ladies are wearing gloves and wielding sanitizing spray like we’re some kind of scary creatures.🤨

We can actually travel through the 65 zone at 65.👏

If we pass a cop these days my first thought isn’t my speed, I wonder instead if he’s going to think our reason for being out isn’t essential.😳 Oh, right. We have groceries in the back for proof.

We accidentally drive past The Restaurant Store because our routine is so messed up that it’s got my brain malfunctioning.

Oh well, we’ll get that on the way home.

We get to Costco at 9:15 and the parking lot isn’t full at all, which suddenly reminds me that they don’t open till 10:00.

Shoot!

Then I realize that people are walking out with full carts.

Nice! This coronavirus must have changed Costco’s hours.🤷‍♀️

We head inside, but first I give the kids a lecture on not touching anything, because it might have the coronavirus.🤨

Myles coughs as we’re getting a cart. He isn’t sick as far as I know, but I’m suddenly afraid we’ll get kicked out. 😳

I (imagine) people glaring at me for bringing my 3 kids out into all the craziness. I want to ask them, if I should have left them home alone instead? (I think, in reality everyone smiled at us.)🤷‍♀️

There is no samples, there is no take out lunch. There is no overwhelming crowd of people. In fact it’s almost lonely.

We pass Mike on our way out but he simply calls a friendly greeting to the kids from behind his glass screen.

It feels like they think we’re terrorists or something. 🤦‍♀️

Once we’re back in the van, I suddenly realize that most, maybe even all, of the people here are seniors.

Oh, shoot! Does Costco have a senior shopping hour?!

My first thought: I bet they do and I just put all those people at risk.🤦‍♀️

My second thought: Do I look like a senior?😳 After all no one stopped me from going in.😬

I googled it.

Yup. Costco implemented senior hour.🤦‍♀️

I read farther: on Tuesdays and Thursdays.🤦‍♀️

I read farther still: from 8-9 AM.😅

Sigh of relief. I didn’t get here till 9:15. But… that was close.

We stopped at the restaurant store on the way home. While we’re waiting on our order, we struck up a conversation with a distant relative that we met there, because we saw so few people today that we’re not even ‘peopled out’ yet.

🤷‍♀️ Now that is strange.

We arrive back home around 10:30, only about 1 hour and 45 minutes later.

That is record breaker.

Either, the world is a strange place these days, or my well oiled schedule is malfunctioning.

Maybe it’s got a virus🤷‍♀️