Jumping For Joy For…Quarters
If you would have told me a month ago that I’d be elated to receive a care package of quarters, face masks, and a gallon of hand sanitizer, I’d think you were insane. But this is our reality in the spring of 2020. The reason we need hand sanitizer and face masks is obvious. But quarters…yea…that was a unique request.
Quarantining looks a lot different in New York City than it does in the suburbs. My partner and I share a one-bedroom apartment with two pets. We have no balcony or backyard or personal fire escape. There’s a park near us, but we have to put on masks and gloves to ride the elevator down then go through double doors just to get outside. If you’re reading this and you have a backyard or front yard, please enjoy it for us New Yorkers who dream of such luxury!
Our community laundry room is in the basement, so we must don face masks and gloves to get there, too. While many modern community washers and dryers take credit cards, our antiquated machines take quarters. All banks within a mile radius of us are closed, so we are unable to get quarters without walking a mile or taking the subway two stops. We normally wouldn’t mind the walk or quick subway ride, but these are unusual times and the subway is scary AF right now.
I’ve been watching our jar of quarters slowly dwindle down over the last few weeks, stressing out about how we are going to get more quarters. I’ve even asked cashiers at local markets if they could give me a few dollars in quarters in exchange for dollar bills and they couldn’t. I was about to resort to hand washing all of our clothes and hanging them to dry across our small apartment. Again, if you’re reading this and you have a washer and dryer in your home, please enjoy them for me!
While FaceTiming with my dad and stepmom last week, he told me about his recent trip to the bank in Conroe, Texas. Then the light bulb went off above my head: Maybe Dad can send quarters!! So I asked, “Hey Dad. Super random question. Is there any way you can send me some quarters along with the hand sanitizer and facemasks? He thought it was an odd request (naturally), so I explained our situation.
Fast forward to a week later: I emphatically open the care package knowing there are quarters inside. Now I can have some sense of peace over the next few weeks while doing laundry.
Something that’s keeping me relatively sane is leading *free* online writing classes on Instagram Live. Join me every Monday this month at 3EST. Check out the flyer below for class descriptions:
Tawny is an NYC-based writer, public speaker, and event producer who’s passionate about smashing stigmas associated with both sexuality and sobriety. Ruby Warrington dubbed Tawny “The Sober Sexpert”. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
Read Tawny’s published words in Playboy, Men’s Health, Huffington Post, The Temper, Audiofemme, SheSaid, Recovery Campus, WorkIt Health, and NY Yoga & Life Magazine. Tawny shared her recovery story on stages all across the world: IOGT World Congress, New York State Recovery Conference, United Federation of Teachers, and more.
In addition to writing and public speaking, she’s the founder of the Readings on Recovery™ reading series and SobrieTea Party™ and co-host of Recovery Rocks podcast with Lisa Smith. She’s also a charity volunteer with Road Recovery and an award-winning filmmaker of the recovery documentary, Fixed Up.
