Skip to main content

Five to Survive

 


And now for some thanks. Over the last five months I’ve lived away from my Columbia home and found myself here only when caregivers were scheduled. Now that I’m really and truly home I’m thinking about the HoColocal businesses that became a part of my daily routine as I struggled to keep my head above water. 

You’ll see that all of these places are geographically centered around my part of town. That makes sense, doesn’t it? When time is short and your ability to make choices is limited, you choose the near and familiar. I couldn’t dilly dally when rush hour traffic awaited me. 

A good old HoCo Holler to these folks who’ve been there when I needed them:

7 Eleven, Steven Forest Road 

Especially at the beginning, when I was too stressed and tired to even think straight, this was the place I could grab a cold sandwich for dinner on my way back. I had to learn not to always grab chips and cookies every time but this place was a godsend. The folks behind the counter were always kind and helpful.

Walgreens, LPP at Thunder Hill Road 

I can’t begin to tell you how many trips I made here over five months. Vitamins and over the counter medications. Paper goods. Home supplies. Frozen dinners and chicken soup. New art journals and black sharpies. Lots of Ensure. 

To all the people who tried to prevent this store from opening - - I am blowing a raspberry in your general direction.

Dunkin/Baskin Robbins, Route 108 near the new Courthouse 

Iced coffee, the occasional doughnut, and the blissfully impractical mint chocolate chip ice cream cone for my drive back to Baltimore County. Convenient to both my home and getting on route 29. Maybe too convenient.

Wendy’s, also Route 108 near the new courthouse 

Most salads I have eaten since February came from this place. Expert tip: you can’t really eat them while driving. You can’t actually consume chocolate Frostys while driving either but that doesn’t mean I didn’t make it happen through bad judgment and brute force.

These last two weren’t conveniently located to my daily commutes but going there became a necessity both for body and soul.

Queen Takes Book, Snowden Center Oakland Mills Road

For art activity books and stickers and the feeling that it was okay to splurge on myself a little.

Bon Fresco, also Snowden Center Oakland Mills Road

At a certain point I bid farewell to the junkiest of fast food choices and saved my quick dinner runs for Bon Fresco once or twice a week. (The rest of the time it was easy enough to live on fresh fruit and Lean Cuisines.) Bon Fresco sandwiches became the reassuring gift that made life worth living. The service was always excellent, the people behind the counter friendly, the food reasonably priced and just…outstanding. 

This particular cookie meant everything to me on hard days. My car probably still has the crumbs to prove it. 

Image from Bon Fresco Website


Now that I’m back my spending habits will probably revert to something more like what they were before.  I just couldn’t let the opportunity pass to give these places a shoutout. They were companions on a rough road. And now for some home cooking and leisurely trips to the library.


Village Green/Town² Comments

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Columbia Chance Connection

  Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!”  We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...
Post a Comment
Read more