Page 24 - ActsCOVID-19_and_Me

Coping With “Shelter-in-Place”
Food
In the absence of any other activities, this seemed to become a central focus of our lives. I gained new skills. For example, I figured out how to order grocery deliveries through Instacart and Peapod and learned that some items would likely be out of stock: bread, flour, yeast, rice, Clorox wipes, and just about any form of paper products including toilet paper.
I balanced out the orders from grocery stores with items that the BC grocery program made available to us. We were also given menus for our meals of the day a week in advance, and had to guess what we would like to eat a week out.
Investigating UberEats for occasional food deliveries from restaurants gave us another outlet for some variety in our meals.
When bread was in short supply, we tried baking it—with our 30- year old bread-baking machine. This experiment didn’t last long once a few loaves collapsed on us, but it was fun.
Delivery of our meal-of-the-day went like clockwork. Dining services did an amazing job of getting out all the meals.
Unfortunately, all this emphasis on food packed on more than a few pounds.
Isolation
My journal entry from May 3:
This is our seventh week of sheltering-in-place and it is getting very old. We have had almost no contact with anyone unless we happen to pass them on the walking trail or make an occasional phone call.
Friday afternoon the staff put on a parade for us. They drove and marched around cheering, blowing horns, clanging cowbells, and holding up signs of encouragement to us. We shouted and clapped in return. I was so overwhelmed that I started crying.
18