How My Boyfriend Convinced To Go to TJ Maxx and a Love Letter for Making Me Feel Safe
Hello there.
It feels ages since we last talked. I’m very behind on comments, e-mails, tweets, etc…etc..! Aren’t I always? Won’t you forgive me? Life is starting back up in Gotham again and it’s make me a tiny little bit nervous. It feels like too many people are out. I did manage to dine out twice so far with my BF and it was a nice experience. It was outdoors, the wait staff all wore masks, as did we until our meals arrived. It feels sort of good getting back some normalcy. My heart breaks for anyone experiencing what New York did the last few months. I hope if you’re in any hard hit states that you’re ok and safe. You’ll get through this as we did in New York.
Summer also decided to sneak up on us. It’s hot, it’s humid, and you could potentially start frying eggs on the concrete. You know it’s Summer when my friend and I start exchanging texts about how miserable we are about the heat and how we can’t wait for Fall to arrive. We aren’t Summer people.
Today’s love letter goes out to TJ Maxx.
I went to TJ Maxx a few days ago. I swear it was all very, very quick, safe, and it was me dashing in and out the door in a twenty minute supermarket sweep sprint. I tried really hard to convince my boyfriend to come in with me because I wanted to snag onto his belt and hide behind him. He’s the bestest human shield ever. Tall, lean, perfect for hiding behind! But he forced me to do it myself. He said I needed to be stronger and start doing normal things again. We sat in the car in front of the stores for 10 minutes while he explained to me why he couldn’t go inside with me and how he wouldn’t always be around to hold my hand as things start to re-open again (he’s right because he had to fly back to CA this week for work which made me hyperventilate). And I realized he’s right! I need to stop letting this dumb virus get the best of me. I think the last few months I’ve been living in a bubble as I didn’t really have to go out all that much (I’ve never stayed inside this long in all my life). Yay Amazon Fresh (when it was available)! Yay Postmates! Yay Instacart!
I’ve never experienced any feelings of anxiety or being paranoid before but man, this virus has really gotten a hold of me. I swear I watch way too much news. He also drove me to Nordy’s but he couldn’t convince me to be brave for that one because it was packed with people. I got out of the car, shut the door, and walked up to the door, looked inside, and ran back to the car really, really fast. He proceeded to tell me it was fine and he was proud that I did TJ all by myself. Little did he know the TJ Maxx experience was kind of awesome and I actually didn’t need to be all that brave.
First off, TJ is limiting who can go inside the store. Yay! My store is pretty large but they still only let 70 people in at a time. That was great because it felt like I wasn’t bumping into anyone as I browsed. Secondly, they were cleaning all the carts. I ran in and out within 15 minutes so I didn’t need a cart but I was happy to see them cleaning the carts off with each person that used one. Lastly and really cool was the fact they had dividers up at each register which really made me feel safe. I dunno if this will do anything at preventing the virus but I just appreciated no one was breathing down my back as I paid.
A lot of love goes out to TJ Maxx for making my first shopping experience since the COVID-19 outbreak a good one. New York was the hottest spot for COVID-19 when this started three months ago. Our state was the epicenter for the disease and compared to Italy in terms of cases. I think I speak for all New Yorkers when I say that feeling safe is a really important thing when out and about.
No matter where you are in the world right please be safe. I hope your shopping experiences are good ones that make you feel secure and comfortable!