“I will not give you counsel, saying do this, or do that. For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be. But this I will say to you: your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’
There’s basically been a line at Trader Joe’s since March. (The one time I passed by and there wasn’t one, I did a U-turn on Wolf Road and screeched into the parking lot to get some Sweet, Savory & Tart Trail Mix, but aside from that there’s always been a line.) With that in mind, coupled with a needed dose of friendship and fun, I called upon Skip to see if he was game for waiting in the line and then grabbing a bite to eat afterward.
Of course as he pulled into the parking lot next to me and we made our way toward the entrance, there was no line whatsoever. I located the necessary trail mix, some spicy nuts, salsa verde, and a bottle of pickled jalapeno slices. Sadly, there was no Kringle to be found ~ sorry Betsy. Skip is apparently a regular at the place, directing me to where everything was kept ~ alas, there was no more butternut squash mac and cheese left either (Skip bought a dozen the last time he was there which is why the rest of us can’t have nice things).
The grocery shopping done for the day, we ventured into Colonie Center for the first time in months. It was an apocalyptic scene ~ stores were all open, but no one was in them. In some places there weren’t even salespeople to be found. It was disheartening and somewhat upsetting, and Skip mentioned this whole shopping scene was likely on the way out. Walking through the empty mall and its empty stores, I felt a profound demarcation of time. The world had shifted dramatically in the past few months. Friendships remained true, but time was passing. A way of life seemed to be passing too. As we traversed the disturbingly empty caverns of Macy’s, and its suits and shoes and sweater vests, we both kept bringing up the idea that there was nothing to dress for anymore. Remote work and learning rendered anything below the chest all but obsolete, and a tie felt foolish to bother with at this point. Even if we miraculously returned to normal tomorrow and this all turned out to be a bad dream, I felt profoundly changed, and the importance of fashion and clothing were suddenly seen as relatively minor, if they counted for anything at all.
We made our way to the bookstore. It was early but the mall was already closing. Lights blinked off as we looked at games and I sought out advice on gifts for the twins. An attempted glimpse at what was what normal revealed to us that everything had altered, to the point where we both were slightly shook by the transformation. A new world was upon us, and I was glad that Skip was there to bear witness to it as well. The company was indeed true.
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