I get a lot of deliveries at my house, everything from clothing, to household items, to computers and accessories. Some of it is a holdover from the pandemic, when sheltering at home was a necessity, but I’ve always preferred shopping from home, where I can order specifically what I want and arrange for it to be delivered to my front door, as opposed to roaming around a retail outlet, where I may or may not find what I’m looking to purchase. On those occasions when I do venture into a store, I often consult the store’s app if one exists to research purchases and locate particular items is in the store to limit my time shopping.
The disadvantage of home shopping is having to wait for items, but with modern delivery services, wait times may only be a few days at most. During the height of the pandemic, when paper products were scarce in stores, I got into the habit of purchasing bulk toilet paper and hand towels, so now, I am usually well stocked. In this sense, I made a permanent change, rather than going back to how I behaved before having little choice.
I have always considered myself a homebody. No matter where the day takes me, I’m happy if I’m home before nightfall. Some of this might have developed because of my television watching habits. As a kid, I was a big fan of The Brady Bunch and no matter where I was, I would always hurry home by eight p.m. on Friday to watch. Usually, my “appointment” television shows came on after I was in for the evening and nowadays, I only watch streaming shows, which can be watched whenever.
I find that as I’m getting older, I prefer to remain home, unless I’m traveling for work. The pandemic may have had an impact on this as well, because I was attending movies at the local metroplex before quarantine. I’m also an avid theater goer, but since moving away from Atlanta and having fewer resources, staged shows are becoming more of a luxury. This past year I didn’t make it into Atlanta nearly as much as before. I used to head into town a few weekends per year, staying in hotels, but since exhausting all the points saved up during my work with the election in 2020, I’ve been doing more hit and run visits, where I come in for a day, usually employing public transit to get around and heading back home in the evening.
It is said that home is where the heart is, and I can attest that I’m usually more comfortable on days when I don’t have to leave the house. Cabin fever is an occasional problem but there are enough attractions nearby to help alleviate the occasional stress. I also take walks early in the morning, which gets me out of the house at least once a day. I’m just happy to have a place I call home.