Question: What do you do when you know you’re about to be punched in the gut, but you can’t get out of the way?

Answer: You go to the store and buy bread.

That’s what I did today after waiting and watching Hurricane Matthew all week slowly approach my State, leaving devastation in its rainy, windy path. I tried to do some school work this morning, to no avail. And I tried to write, but didn’t get very far with that either (although I am posting this blog).

I feel unsettled and unfocused. I lived through the 2004 hurricanes, but I lived inland, and although Central Florida was beaten up then, the coast got hammered even more. Now, I live on the East Coast, right in Matthew’s projected path.

To get myself out of my head, I decided to go to Publix and stock up on the essentials: beer, wine, ibuprofen and bread. Only there was no bread. Luckily, I arrived when the shelves were being restocked.

“Do you have any multigrain bread?” I asked.

As soon as I asked the question, I wanted to retrieve it.

Really? Does it look like I have multigrain bread? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re a little short on bread right now. Anything else on that little list of yours you’d like me to help you locate?

The polite Publix employee didn’t actually say that, although I’m sure he was thinking something along the same lines. Publix employees are trained to make their customers believe they are valued, even when they ask stupid things like, “Do you have multigrain bread,” when it’s obvious they don’t. Instead, he looked at the one solitary box of bread he was unpacking, and then looked back at me, and said, “No, this is all I have.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said, grabbing a loaf from the top and quickly exiting the aisle while thinking, God, I hope they’re not sold out of beer.

As I headed home, I spotted a landscaping crew finishing up mowing my neighbor’s yard. Without hesitation, I stopped, rolled down my window and asked, “Do you have time to do my yard too?” I don’t recall even thinking about thinking this thought. I just followed through like some crazy person on a mission to get her yard manicured for Hurricane Matthew. Why? I have no idea. It just made me feel better. Literally in 20 minutes, those yard guys had my lawn all spic and span. It would have taken me oh, a mere four hours spread out over one evening and into the next morning. That is no lie. But I’ll leave that story for another blog when I have more time to process that.

So, what does one do when they’re about to get punched, but can’t get out of the way? Well, I get a yard manicure, and buy beer, wine, ibuprofen, and . . . bread, specifically Nature’s Own Butterbread.

BTW, in case you’re wondering, I will indeed head inland in the morning if forecasts get worse. But for now, I am bracing myself, like so many other’s, for a swift punch in the gut.