Errand Friends
One of the things I miss during the pandemic is something I didn’t think about at all until I read Anne Helen Petersen’s piece on errand friends. You know those people that you roll catching up into grocery shopping or swinging by the post office?
Most of the stuff you do with an Errand Friend, it’s unremarkable. It’s just life, but with another person there. I tried to look for a picture from my past to accompany this post, but there was nothing to be found. You take photos of special events, of dinners, of nights out and camping trips and hikes and weddings and dress-up costumes. You don’t take a photo when you’re in Target browsing dishtowels for the seventeenth time.
I have several friends who are errand friends, especially when they come into town. They need to entertain their kids or get something for their parents, and I accompany them because we can talk while we’re being productive. (Usually, even if it’s their errand, I end up accomplishing something, too. Such as last spring when I bought matzah for Pesach while my friend was helping stock her parents’ house with groceries at the start of the pandemic. Back when we thought this would be two weeks.)
I miss that. I miss errand friends. The people that you’re so close with that even grabbing groceries is fun because you’re talking as you walk down the aisles.
5 comments
I…don’t think I’ve ever done that. Maybe with my sisters, but never with a friend. Weird.
I have never done this with any of my friends. Occasionally with my sister in years past, when either her son or mine were young and we were visiting each other.
Having an errand friend might make me look forward to trips to the grocery store, etc. Something to think about. . . .
Hmmmm, the closest I’ve come to this is taking my sister(s) or sister-in-law and niece shopping when they come to town. I’m perfectly happy to be with them the whole day, chat about all sorts of things, and never think about shopping for myself. I guess that’s the same thing. Fortunately, we haven’t missed this – except for the international visitors.
I’ve definitely done this!
I read AHP’s article too. I don’t think I’ve done this myself. The closest thing would probably be having lunch with a friend & then tagging along afterward as they stop off at the drugstore or whatever errands they had to do en route to their car or the subway, etc.