“Remoted” – Workday 57 /Day 77 (Monday)

Staying at home for most of the past 77 days has resulted in a few things in the outside world going undone. Not shopping in person all this time means there were no flowers bought for the yard. No replenishment of the greeting cards or shopping for gifts, and we’re already well into birthday season in my family. The flowers aren’t a huge ordeal, and not getting any would mean less work for me all summer long, but it also means a really boring deck. The cards will be an issue soon. The gifts will be a bigger issue even sooner.

One niece had a birthday in early April and I had a pizza and a grilled chicken salad delivered to her from her favorite hometown place. The niece with the birthday in May now lives across the country, and I sent her a box of potato chips from the company from home. But now it feels like I’m out of brilliant ideas, and my sister’s birthday is here. 

As much as I’ve enjoyed the safety and comfort of not leaving my cocoon, it is time to venture out again into society. My annual checkup with the doctor got me out last week, and this week I have a dental appointment on Friday. Even with a pandemic, the glamour never stops here. I didn’t change dentists when I moved, so I’ve been driving from Lowell to Fitchburg for the dentist. Friday’s appointment is the third attempted rescheduling to finish the crown on the molar that was broken in February. It happened while eating popcorn, which I realized I didn’t really want while making it and  it didn’t even taste that good. Then, I broke my tooth on the first mouthful, resulting in a procedure that is costing me $700 after the insurance company portion. Good time, that $700 popcorn.

Eggs? No, eggs-otic souvenirs.

At least while dental work has me forced out of the house and into the world on a vacation day, I can take care of some of the various undone things. It would be stupid not to, right? Maybe I’ll pretend I’m a tourist on vacation, dressing the part, of course. I have a few days to choose my vacation trip wardrobe. The dental appointment and whatever follows can be treated like exciting excursions booked through the hotel concierge (also me). After all, the one crown is consuming whatever vacation budget there might have been. Friday’s excursions won’t be quite the level of a resort spa visit or a zipline tour, and will probably be more like a trip to the hotel souvenir shop. But anything bought that day will be considered an exotic souvenir, a memento of my expensive vacation day.