Pandemic anniversary and other odds & ends

• Today is our (36th!!) wedding anniversary. Saturday we'll be getting our first haircuts in 17 weeks -- the first appointments we could get after salons reopened late last week.  Last night, dh asked me, "If the first available appointment had been tomorrow on our anniversary instead of Saturday, would you have taken it?"  Me: "Damn right."  lol  #trueromantic #priorities  ;)  
• This is our second pandemic anniversary. We'll be celebrating in much the same way as we did last year, with wine and takeout from one of our favourite restaurants, and maybe an outing for some (takeout) gelato. :)  Restaurant patios are open (albeit not indoor dining yet) -- but we're only a week out from our second vaccines. Even if we were past the two-week mark, I'm not sure either of us would be comfortable on a patio yet. Maybe later this summer...? (COVID-19 aside, today's forecast is 32C, 40C with humidity factored in -- that's 90F & 104F, respectively.)(It was already 24C/31C humidex = 75F/88F at 7 a.m. this morning.)  
• There's still nobody else I'd rather be quarantined with. :)   
• We often celebrate our anniversary with a bookstore visit ;)  but we were already there yesterday. For both of us, it was the first time we'd been back since March 31st -- more than three full months!! (It reopened on June 11th after our latest lockdown restrictions were lifted for non-essential retail.  There are still capacity limits and mask requirements, among other precautions.)  Then I went to the drugstore to pick up some prescriptions and sundries -- also for the first time since March 31st, although it's remained open all through the pandemic (masks & other social distancing measures in place), and dh has been there in the months between to pick up stuff he couldn't find on the pharmacy shelves at the supermarket. 
• It was... weird. Obviously, I've been both places since the pandemic began, in between lockdowns, but it's like finding your feet all over again -- fumbling for your wallet, your debit card and points card, and trying to remember your PIN number when the tap & go feature doesn't work... I had to shake off the feeling that I needed to rush through the stacks and get out again ASAP, because I didn't want to spend too much time indoors with other people -- even if we are partially vaccinated, and all of us were wearing masks and keeping our distance from each other. 
• It was sensory overload too. I walked in and immediately spotted half a dozen books I coveted. Even in the drugstore, I had to restrain myself -- I think I'm still in a lockdown/scarcity mindset. I see stuff that I use, and even if I have plenty at home, I feel like I should buy more and stock up. I had to remind myself that if I start running low, the drugstore will still be open (and/or I can order some online). I don't HAVE to buy ALL THE THINGS, NOW.  I think it will take a while to get back into the swing of things again...!  
• With the bookstore, dh confessed he's gotten so used to being able to just download whatever he wants to his e-reader, at much cheaper prices than even a paperback, that he doesn't feel the same compulsion to buy books. (I bought three -- two hardcovers, one discounted, and one paperback, also discounted).  I still love my paper books (and I still love going to the bookstore, just to soak up the atmosphere and to browse and see what's there) -- but these days I admit I find it hard to justify paying the extra money for paper (whether hardcover or paperback)(and taking up precious shelf space in our small condo). 
• I do think a lot of e-books are ridiculously priced, though, and I keep my eyes open for e-book bargains. I have a (long) running wishlist on Kobo that I scroll through regularly, and surprisingly, I will often find a book that was regularly priced at $13.99, $16.99 or more for $5.99 or less. (All figures Canadian dollars.) I've learned to snap up bargains when I see them, though, because they will often revert to regular price the next day!  
• As I mentioned above, it's been 17 weeks since our last haircuts (in mid-March, between lockdowns). It's also been 17 weeks since we last visited the cemetery near Old Community where Katie's ashes are interred. 
• When we lived in the area (10-15 minutes from the cemetery), we used to go nearly every week (for almost 18 years straight), often late on a Saturday afternoon before heading out for dinner. When we moved here, dh promised me we could still visit as often as I wanted. It's 30-40 minutes, one way, and we're never there for more than a few minutes, so I knew that it wouldn't be practical to go every week like we used to. 
• Eventually, a new pattern emerged:  visiting before or after haircuts (with a stop at a favourite local store or two worked in for good measure) -- i.e., every six weeks or so. We have occasionally gone between haircuts -- on Katie's day, on some Mother's & Father's Days, and sometimes just because we felt like it -- and then we'd usually go for lunch and a browse at the bookstore near there, so that it wasn't just a matter of driving for half an hour, visiting for 10-15 minutes and then turning around and head back home.  Which, I suppose, is why we haven't been there during these past 17 weeks when the hair salons have been closed.  
• I feel guilty sometimes that we are not there more often. On the other hand, not many bereaved parents I talk to are still visiting their child's grave every single week, 23 years later. So I try to cut myself some slack. 
• Dh did propose, when we moved here, that we could purchase niches at a cemetery here, sell our niches there and have Katie's urn moved. I didn't want to do that. Sure, the idea of having her closer to us had some merit.  But.  Her niche was sealed 23 years ago this summer, with her urn inside, and some roses and a letter from me and a little Classic Pooh book from her father. To open that up again would be like opening up an old wound, I think. That's the resting place we chose for her -- it's a lovely cemetery, with a "Garden of Angels" nearby, where the children of many of the parents who came to our support group are buried too.  I feel like she belongs there, in that community, where she was an important part of our life, even if she never took a breath or lived in the house we bought with her and her non-existent siblings in mind. 
• For the second (pandemic) summer in a row, CBC Radio One is broadcasting reruns of the Vinyl Cafe with the late, great Stuart McLean on Sunday mornings. I wrote last summer about how wonderful it was to visit with this comforting old friend again, and it's just as nice (and bittersweet) the second rerun summer around. :)  Once again, I got a huge lump in my throat as an anonymous volunteer audience member announced "It's the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean!"  
• You can listen too, live on CBC Radio One, online, or wherever you get your podcasts.