By Georgia Osten
I braved Galveston yesterday, I only made a couple of stops. The ferry line going over on a Sunday was minimal. I thought to myself, “why isn’t anyone leaving?” The ferry line coming back home was backed up to the Seawall, more people coming over. This weekend was like a Jeep Weekend rehearsal. No, I’m not referring to a lot of jeeps, just a lot of crazies. And campers, have you ever seen so many tents in your life? And the RV parks are full! I’ve never seen so many emails – “Is the beach open?” or Facebook posts – “Is the beach open?” Social Distancing – NOT ON YOUR LIFE! There’s no such thing down here, they’re on top of each other, there’s no room to distance, on Saturday, the beach was wall-to-wall.

Okay, let’s open up Galveston beaches, why not? Literally, the Seawall was solid people. They can’t get down to the beach, but their chairs and canopies lined the Seawall. And across the street, especially at the restaurants, people sitting out on the sidewalks with their take-out meals. The crowds were incredible!

Okay, I’ve rambled away from the main point of my story.

There I was, at WalMart buying plants and generally wasting my time until I could hit Kroger at noon. That’s where my essential shopping was to take place. First, I needed to see if Kroger was going to start getting flowers again. They said the pandemic was causing a shortage of flowers. Really? I didn’t realize flowers were susceptible to Covid 19? Anyway, I found the most beautiful yellow roses for only $10 – SOLD! I shopped and shopped, enjoying a slightly lesser crowd of people.

I finished my shopping and was outside loading items into my coolers when this woman came up to my car. I remembered seeing her in the store, she looked nice enough. She came up to me and asked “Would you do me a favor?” I, suspiciously, looked at her thinking, “oh my gosh, she’s going to ask me for money.” Now, why I thought that, I can’t tell you, but I know I had the most unfriendly look on my face. She said to me in the nicest way possible, “would you please take your purse out of the shopping cart and put it in your car while you unload your cart?”

Well, I tell you, I was flabbergasted! If we weren’t going through Social Distancing, I would have given her a hug! I said, of course and I told her that’s exactly what my daughters tell me all the time. Why, they even go next to me and zip up my purse from time to time. She said, “Well, that’s pure love!”

I thanked her profusely and will probably never forget her words of wisdom and kindness. It doesn’t take much!

[April-27-2020]