Shopping

Last spring as the world shut down, I snapped up masks, Purell, and something expensive and seemingly frivolous: an outdoor sectional. I’m not kidding when I say that impulse purchase saved us. It got me through the long, lonely first months of quarantine, the worry about my kids’ emotional health, and the heartbreak when I suddenly lost my dad in early summer. It’s like we magically got a bonus room in our cramped house.