Joe

D got a lei when he shopped at the new Trader Joe's three blocks away. It was jammed then. He got this image at 0805, amid the crush.




After my nearly dozen hours, he said he'd be glad to walk back over, if I was up to it. I can't say that I was, but I'm glad we did. Not often I really enjoy being in a crowd, but a cheerful one, once in a while, buoys me up. Long ago, I would visit Eastern Market on Christmas Eve morning, crisp and early, among the throngs buying cheeses and tea, cakes and Lebanese pastries, a treasured time.

It's not really about groceries, so much as about really good food, reliable stuff that just tastes right, and memories of Boston. Of all the adventures we've been on, that three years is unregrettable. D changed so much, perhaps I did as well. And walking to Trader Joe's, getting chocolate and fish-sticks and flowers, is all part of who we were becoming, who we are now. I can't explain more clearly why it's different, but it really is.


I don't think anyone working there today had any idea what it would be like, I assumed they would be mobbed all day long, and run out of items. Not just U students, but a lot of people living here are from elsewhere, and word spreads. And not just that it's new, because the Brookline TJ's on Sunday* afternoon was only slightly less busy. I asked the cashier, if she'd had any idea it would be like this, she looked a bit stunned, and said "none, no." All the staff looked exhausted, but still hustled along. I could utterly empathize.

Very hard week, not bad in any way, just hard. Ill on my day off, nyquil'd myself and went to bed very, very early two nights running. Got off at 1830 today, which I knew loomed ahead - now behind.

So, why did I want to walk to a grocery store at 7:30 after this week? Probably because it was raining. And we promised to always walk in the rain together.






*Large Jewish community there, close Temple Beth Zion, so they would walk, and fill the store. A cultural immersion experience.