Yesterday I wrote about exploring the great outdoors and going on a hike. However, the dog had other plans. She didn’t eat and looked like she was having some trouble. She threw up a few times too. It seemed like she was getting back to normal last night but she still left all her food. When we woke up this morning and the food was still there, it seemed obvious she needed more time to recover (and did not need to go on a long hike). Heck, I needed more time too, since I slept on the couch with the dog to make sure she was alright. When I woke up in the morning I went right back to bed! The good news is that our dog seemed back to her normal self by this afternoon though and is eating!
Knowing we had a whole day and our plans had been scrapped, my wife went to the local nursery to pick up her online order of mulch, flowers, shrubs, and I guess a lilac tree? Something like that. The process was crazy and we had to drive from one part of the nursery to the other several times to make it all work out. It was clear the process was a challenge for them and they were still working out the kinks.
It was depressing to see because this is the time of the year where the entire city seems to descend upon Natorp’s and go shopping. Spring in Cincinnati is vibrant and bright, and Natorp’s is actually a really big part of that. They serve tens of thousands of families. They sponsor all sorts of local events. If you are shopping there and you want a bottle of water because you are hot, you just go grab one. It’s free. In the fall, they open their sunflower fields and let people take pictures in them. And yet here it is, the first week of April, and the building sits mostly empty waiting for people to pick up online orders if they aren’t headed to Home Depot instead (since Home Depot is considered “essential”).
It just so happened that one of outdoor projects required a few things from Home Depot, so I went there a couple hours after Natorp’s. The parking lot was full and they were counting shoppers to limit how many could be in the store at one time. The checkout line was so busy that someone had to be there making sure people were practicing their “social distancing,” which is a phrase that I can’t wait to never hear again.
My economic fear in this whole pandemic situation is also one that I don’t know how to respond to. The big are getting bigger, because everyone needs groceries (Kroger), general goods (Walmart) and random stuff mailed to them five times a day (Amazon). In the process, the little guys are getting absolutely crushed and are often not even open.
The situation makes me feel awful for the first-time small business owner who just happened to pick March 2020 as the time they would finally open the doors to their business. I hurt for the local business who made an imprint in the community but wants to protect the health of its employees. I say this, however, recognizing completely that I have been to Kroger and Walmart in the last week or so and Amazon keeps sending my wife things I don’t even know are coming.
How does the little guy survive? I really don’t know. I need to do the best I can do to support my family, and sometimes that means making the cheaper choice or the choice that is open and not closed. I can’t pretend I have the answers to deal with the problem, given that I am a part of the problem.
I think I’ll start with this: Cincinnati, Natorp’s is open. They are amazing. They have always bent over backwards to help my wife and I with what we need.
Maybe we all need to do a shoutout to a small business that is still open and trying their best. We can’t save them all, but we can at least try to work together and let them know how much we appreciate them.