I had children in my twenties, and was a single parent of two kids by the time I was 27. Which meant I was learning how to be an adult and a parent at the same time. Which isn’t unusual, I suppose. But it did instill some habits in me that are hard to jettison.

I have COVID, again, as does my partner. He got sick first, then I did. Thursday, I was feeling crummy, and I did something else I learned as a single mom with no family support – I prepared. I got ready to be sick the way characters in pioneer novels prepared for winter. I went to the grocery store, got a week’s worth of food, came home and made chicken soup and did laundry. Only then did I rest. The next day I tested positive for COVID and then had an excuse to stay prone.

What is that? I live just outside of Seattle. I can get anything I need delivered to my house rapidly and effectively, from groceries to cold medicine to meals. My daughter and son in law live twenty minutes away and are happy to help. This bravado of staggering to the grocery store and wandering, stunned with illness, mask on, through the aisles looking for what I think I need is stupid and unnecessary. But I just did it.

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