As I drive into the parking lot of my closest grocery store, I notice the parking lot looks a little like it’s mimicking the actions of my fellow humans these days. I shrug and follow along leaving an empty parking slot on either side of my car. 

After turning off the car, I fumble with my mask while hearing my sister’s voice in my head as she instructs me in the proper use of my mask. To say the least, it’s awkward and the mask and my glasses are not BFFs. When I tilt my head, like I’m doing as I navigate my way out of the car, my glasses begin to fog up. I can tell that this shopping trip is going to be a gruesome expedition.

As I join a long line of people, like me, all waiting to purchase our essentials, the rain begins to fall. It seems one or two people had the foresight to bring an umbrella. I think mine is in the car but I’m not leaving my spot to grab it. Thankfully, I wore a long coat with a hood. But now I need to be even more careful as the hood wants to slip down over my glasses, which also adds to my fogging up issues.

With a start I realize I need to pay attention as the line is moving. I mutter to myself what exactly is 2 meters or 6 feet distance anyway? I glance around and see that I’m not the only one struggling to figure out the correct distance.

After spending 15 to 20 minutes in a cold and steady rainfall, slowly inching along, It’s finally my turn to enter the grocery store. We line up as instructed by the friendly employee in charge of letting people into the building. I feel surreal. Usually in this type of situation I’m sitting fairly comfortably, leaning to the side so that I can see and hear the steward describe in the in-flight instructions. No, instead I’m being asked if I’ve been sick, had/have a fever, or anyone in my family has been sick.

Now that I’m armed with my cart, I begin to make my arduous way to the produce section, feeling super paranoid, and did I mention, awkward? In an attempt to look (don’t touch unless you’ll be placing that item into your cart) and keep an eye out for anyone getting too close, what used to be an annoying chore, grocery shopping has now become a nightmare. My head is swiveling left to right and I’m looking at the produce and hoping that the underside is not all bruised, I snatch and grab and push on, continuing to look for the next item on my list.

Finallly, I have made it through produce with a few starts and stops and rerouts to avoid other people, it’s now time to enter my first aisle. Oh no, there are too many ahead of me, so I idle where I’m at, attempting to stay out of everyone’s way. Here begins another awkward moment. I need to price compare as well as read label ingredients but somehow avoid touching anything. Sweat begins to collect in all kinds of uncomfortable places. I need to hurry, someone else is trying to get to the cereals I’m sweating over. I struggle to see the fine print as my glasses are no longer useful in this situation (they are for distance or super close up). Did you know that ingredient labels are either on the side, bottom, or back of the item and so small they need to be read close up?

Obviously, I barely survived my first grocery shopping expedition of COVID-19. The whole time I felt out of sorts, furtive, hot, grumpy, and did I mention awkward?