We were on video chat with Chris’s cousins this evening, and we talked about everything from Coronavirus to Coronavirus to Coronavirus, and then about bananas, lack of flour, sugar, and basic pantry staples at the supermarkets, to the alcohol supplies in our respective apartments. His cousin exclaimed: “See! This is what our conversations are now about, going through each others’ pantries. This is what we have resorted to. In our usual catch ups, we would be discussing work, work travel, holidays… but there’s none of that now! No one is traveling! There’s no FOMO (fear of missing out) to be had!”

That actually is all at once comforting and depressing. We’re not alone, right? We’re all alone together, stuck in our apartments and homes to entertain ourselves however we can — no trips planned for business or pleasure, no outings to restaurants, theaters, or to catch up with friends anytime in the foreseeable future. Every single one of our lives is being restricted. But I suppose we are the lucky ones; none of us have the virus or are taking care of someone who does. None of us are on the front lines, taking care of patients and thus putting ourselves at risk for COVID-19. We are extremely fortunate in our locked up states.

I will say, though, that one area of potential FOMO is what each other is eating. I was recently looking over some Facebook posts from people I know, and their lunches and dinners, to be quite frank, looked quite depressing. I’m very fortunate and privileged to have so many grocery stores around me (well, they have their queues to get in, but what can you do?), plus an extremely well rounded stock of food across our pantry, fridge, and freezer. We have many interesting meals lined up with all my recipe testing going on. My kitchen, if it were a real person, would be overwhelmed with how much attention I’m currently lavishing on it.