The line was long, endless. I stood, overheating in multiple layers, nudging my basket ahead with my foot, inching closer to the cashiers. A slight frenzy was in the air (okay, maybe not so slight) just minutes after Trader Joe’s opened its doors at 8 a.m.
It was Monday morning, a.k.a. Blizzard Blitzkrieg. The masses were out in force, determined to stock up for fear of being stuck at home hungry for… a day. Meteorologists had predicted this to be “historic,” but New Yorkers should know better. Snow is cleaned up as fast as confetti after New Year’s Eve in Times Square. So why were we all there?
I went for the experience. I had planned ahead, bought my quinoa and almond milk the day before. (After totaling my car in a 1995 snowstorm, I’ve become a weather junkie). I didn’t need the extra bottles of seltzer or the unsalted roasted sesame seeds, I would have fared fine without them. As did my fellow shoppers whose baskets were filled with ingredients for kale smoothies, as if one day off our daily routine would set us back.
But isn’t that the beauty of a snow day? To get out of our routines? To stay in pajamas, shuffling around in our slippers, reading in comfy chairs and binging on a few episodes of [fill in the blank] from the couch?
For those of us in cities, life gets back to normal fairly quickly after a storm, as though the calm during it never happened. Which is ironic as the calm is what we usually crave. Mornings to sleep in, quiet days to reflect. Yet when we get those moments, like we did yesterday, did we enjoy them or after a few hours, were we itching to return to the daily grind?
Sure I was disappointed the Blizzard of 2015 wasn’t as remarkable as predicted, but the buzz was exciting. Ever since Hurricane Sandy no one wants to be caught stuck in the dark without snacks. So we overindulge. We buy fish nuggets and Ecuadorian dark chocolate because we get swept up in the flurry. (Forget that we’ve never purchased them before). Yet the craziest thing of all is that with the Super Bowl just days away, the entire scene will most likely be replayed all over again.
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