Dinner and a Movie

This morning my daughters drove into Manhattan to go into their respective apartments and get some of those items they’d been wanting: contact lenses, razor inserts, spring jackets, more clothes, clothes for warmer weather, even bathing suits, in case a beach is open in June. My older daughter, who’d been on the coronavirus lookout for weeks, even brought back a thermometer with probe covers, something we hope not to need, as well as 16 (!) rolls of toilet paper she had stocked in her apartment. Quite the impressive stash.

As I watched them unpack their clothes into their childhood bedrooms, I saw the spring and summer outfits we had just worn in February when we took the ‘girls trip’ to Aruba. Cute floral capris worn on that day we had dinner on the beach. A lifetime ago, or was it just a month ago?

I started to imagine what it would look like when we drive them back. Will it be June? July? I imagine the moment when we get in the car with their suitcases and cats, and we drive them back to their worlds of work and friends and a city that is vibrant again.  No more masked, gloved inhabitants on eerily deserted streets.

We have a big night planned.  We are doing take-out, most likely from my daughters’ favorite local Mexican restaurant here on Long Island. We will have wine. Then we will return to watching that Netflix docuseries “Tiger King,” which we started last night.  So many people had recommended it as a way to temporarily forget COVID-19. It’s quite a crazy story and probably not one we’d normally watch, but it was certainly compelling, and anything we can agree on as a family that takes us away for an hour or two is welcome. So here’s to Saturday night’s dinner and a movie.  I might even put on a fancy blouse.