An increasingly common topic on social media is the first place people will go once people can go someplace. Considering how much food is talked about it is not surprising that the answer often is a restaurant. I don’t think that will be the first non-essential place I want to go after weeks/months/eons.
I have nothing against restaurants. Some of my favorite places are restaurants. Diners specifically. With an occasional dive here and there. And not to infringe on a certain food show, one drive-in. I love a good sandwich and a better breakfast. A good sandwich breakfast is heaven on a plate. Or in a wrapper. Yes, a restaurant is a solid suggestion but just not for me.
Other non-essential places that get mentioned are casinos. Again a good suggestion, certainly high on the non-essential list, but not on mine. There are two casinos within an hour drive, one complete with a horse track, and another three casinos just a bit farther. I’ve been to 4 of the 5 and truth be told I have enjoyed the live races on many Saturday afternoons, but I’ve gone years between visits before, I can live with years between visits again.
Various stores that don’t have food get mentioned quite a bit. Furniture stores, flower shops, car dealers, and flooring specialists (perhaps somebody whose remodel had been interrupted?) have all been mentioned as places to high tail it to when released. You know I love a good dollar store and there’s an Italian market right around the corner where I would stop at at least once a week and will again when it re-opens but shopping isn’t what I’m putting at the top of the list of things to do that I can’t do now when I can do them again.
Sports are on a lot of people’s minds. Not spectating but playing. There are a lot of golfers, bowlers, even archers holed up and just dying to flex their muscles in some area bigger than the average living room. Likewise are gymnasiums and swimming pools high on some people’s lists. I didn’t realize just how energetic and athletic the average American is. But then, I’m not sure the average American realizes that either. I’m not.
For some the first stop after being set free will be a theater, moviehouse, or concert hall. It would be nice to see a movie on a screen bigger than one that fits in my apartment but I’m not sure the first place I want to be is in a small, closed room. Speaking of small enclosures I’ll also pass on joining those whose first venture is “anywhere far from here.” Wherever that here might be, far away from it probably means travel on a plane, train, bus, or [shudder] boat. Eventually … but not top of the list for me.
One place I haven’t seen anybody write as a candidate for the first place to go when going to places will be all the rage again is church. Church, synagogue, temple, mosque, Stonehenge. Any site of worship. You would think anyone still alive after weeks/months/eons trapped with family, very very close friends, or ourselves and emerging still alive we would want to thank the Almighty. To be honest, as much as I would love to say I’ll be on a beeline for church as soon as the all clear is sounded, I didn’t think of that as the first place I’d go either. Maybe we aren’t as evolved as we think we are.So where will I be heading when the heading can be any heading I choose? I think for as much as the conversation is starting to take root I haven’t been thinking of it. I suppose anywhere I can be closer than 6 feet away from anybody will do for me.
And where will you go?
The Real Reality Show Blog 
I’d agree with you–I want to worship with the larger family of God. There’s something about corporate worship that gives me a little taste of what heaven will be.
Saturday night I streamed my church’s Easter Vigil and I am certain that in the solitude of my living as I listened to the Exsultet I heard for if not the first time the first time in a long time the message and not just the words. But then at its conclusion I missed the shivers and tears and collective awe of hundreds of people standing shoulder to shoulder as the lights blazed and the bells rang. Which is the Heaven I envision… me alone with my God or me with everyone who made the journey? Something still to ponder.
You’re so right–and I believe heaven will be both and. Time alone with the Lord to glory in His presence, and time with the body to rejoice in what it means to be together unified completely with no divisions, no tears, no anger, no remorse.
People like me who type for a living don’t really go all that many place but I’m with the restaurant crowd if for no other reason than when it’s all over someone else does the dishes. cheers
Solid reasoning. I’ve mitigated my dishpan hand potential by taking to eat only directly from containers over the sink. Works particularly well with those single serving containers of gelato. Quarts are single servings I believe.
It’s a documented fact that food out of the container tastes better and is less fattening. And yes, the quart size, family serving and party packs are all singles. cheers