We talked about it in general terms. Nothing specific. We could… leave the house. Take a drive. Check out the lights of Avalon. We didn’t do it. It seemed like a big effort to get in the car and go somewhere. Where would we go? Covid and…in New Jersey? Might as well stay home. This went on for months. We had the same conversation again and again over paint-by-numbers, Netflix, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
\My mom and I have been spending the quarantine together. Like two peas in a pod. Sometimes it has felt like the pea pod had a string tied around it, but we have come so far. Now we are in synch. I am most grateful to spend this time with my mom. Priceless!So, we talked about it again today. Why don’t we leave the house and take a drive. We could even pick-up dinner from someplace. But where? I looked into it and found some options. This would be fun! I needed 3 items from Staples and we could stop there first. For safety, Mom would stay in the car listening to the radio with the car doors locked.
The momentum was building all day. From upstairs, I would yell down to my mom from my trampoline with updates about our trip out of the house. We can do this and that…so much fun!At 5 pm ET, we were ready to go. We were dressed for winter, like it was the arctic outside. Who knew that it was a beautiful 44 degree evening? No winter clothes needed! We were masked up. I had two masks on. Yea! Good for me.
We are in the car. I talk to my car. “Hello Car, I am so happy to take this ride with you. I have missed you”. … and I realize I don’t have my glasses. What now? Go back inside after we have this incredible energy? No! I will wear my sunglasses. Yes! There is the answer. Sunglasses on, double masked and the Sirius radio is on Howard Stern. I keep learning from Howard from a production and interviewing perspective. However, my mom was not a fan. It was one of those shows that was mostly 4 letter words. Trying to drive in sunglasses and flip through Sirius to find music for my mom was preoccupying me. But, my mom was focused on the sunset. Yes, the sunset was beautiful! Did I mention that the Avalon Blvd bridge is down to one lane since September. Stay focused!
We enter the Parkway. So happy for this shared experience. Mom and me. Like so many times in the past. We exit at Cape May Court House. The excitement is building. We pull into the shopping center with Staples. Pier One has closed down:(. I let mom know that I will be gone for 15 minutes and show her how to lock the door from inside.
Now, I am inside Staples. Trying to communicate through a mask, with the customer service person. Neither one of us can understand the other. Finally, she calls for someone to assist. There were no customers in the store. I have a list of what I need-3 items. The sales rep meets with me. He looks at the list and his eyes show that he has no idea about what I need. He sends me to aisle 14.
Starting to sweat in my New York Fashion week outfit, I see that aisle 14 is a ghost town. Not one of the fairly common adapters that I need. I move onto the laptop section. The gentleman there looks confused about what I need. I checkout the inventory and there is not 1 laptop that has what I need. Ugh! Back to Amazon!
I leave the store, Mom is happy to see me. We talk about my big outing and what happened. Well, at least we got out. Onward to finding dinner. Nothing is open. What about McDonalds? Oh no? A giant fat fest.
Guess what? The lights are out at McDonalds! Is this possible? If McDonalds is not open on a Sunday for dinner, what does this mean?As we head back to the Parkway, the Mickey D’s sign lights up!!! OMG! McDonalds is open!
We get into the drive through and mask up. What will we order? Mom goes big! Go girl! I order a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. We get back to the house and mom says “WOW, that was a lot of work for dinner”.
I just laughed. Mom and I have shared so much together. We are glad to have each other and our “road trip”. Sometimes we think we need something to complete us, but then we realize we already have everything we need. Staying home. Amen.
