1:59 a.m.

In between the lucky days of getting a text or email reply saying everyone’s healthy and there’s food in the fridge, there’s the other ones. When the news got too good a hold. When one of the kid’s birthday parades made you cry. When you ate the last bag of Doritos not knowing it was the last bag. When one of the numbers on tv, one of the terrifying ones, was a name to you.

When the how will we do it turned into doing it, toilet paper hoarding had its 15 minutes. The new world order of setting a 2am reminder for milk, eggs, and the cart limit for Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice and Oreos was here. Not eligible for delivery and out of stock almost everywhere was the family size dose of sanity. Clothing racks turned into Pelotons and treadmills, passions tucked away in the garage got dusted off, and suddenly so many people were able to get a delivery slot.

When I say people, I mean those blessed to not have had a ridiculously long q tip shoved up their noses. I mean those blessed that they didn’t have to wait for a verdict that could be completely unjust. The lucky ones that have some maneuverable potholes, not chasms that years and lifetimes of hard work fell into. The ones blessed to become substitute teachers with no authority to suspend students. The ones blessed to get a text notification that our order of sanity was ready for pickup at all different locations. That outgoing tide spot at sunset in the back bays the striped bass swim by, the spot you walk by if you take the long way, or the spot an arm’s length away from kids, tv’s, and ipad fights that have plenty of fresh air and a couple of chirping birds

That sanity for a lot hasn’t come. Even “when this is all over” it may not show up for some time. It’s those courageous and tireless souls making it possible for many of us to wear comfy pants all day every day, take the dog for an extra walk and rewrap a Klondike bar after the nightly ration of three nibble size bites. Those that make that possible are doing the unimaginable, all day every day.

Set the reminder for 2am and get the order of sanity in and confirmed. All the reviews are 5 stars.

Brighter days are ahead.