I Know you shared my grief

when See's Candies closed just when I was at the end of my little bag of goodies. "Order online," they cruelly yelled at me through the locked glass doors of their Santa Monica store on that fateful day. I went online, looked up a few choice collections, but decided not to be so self indulgent so soon. After all, I wasn't totally out, and a few days off would do my avoirdupois some good.

Applauding myself, it turns out prematurely, for rare self-restraint, I closed the site, leaving some dark chocolate items tantalizingly in the basket, unpurchased.

I'm sure you know where this is going

Later that week I made do with a bag of dark Ghirardelli's I found early one morning at the supermarket--perfectly okay, delicious, in fact, but too many solids--I like soft centers the best. A few days ago, I say, I went back to the inviting website. 

No longer doing business.

Closed for the duration. 

Shopping cart empty!

Yikes!

You feel me, right? So, biting a lot of bullets these days, I bit.

I really bit!

I went to GODIVA.

Yes, Godiva.com. I messed around there for a few days, at first not wanting to spend so much money, working on various justifications, how little money I was otherwise spending, how chocolate is actually good for you, how keeping myself in good spirits was an important think to do in the Time of Corona. Yeah, right.

I selected a few items, and took the plunge. A few days later, this box arrived. Dimensions,
10x28x15 inches.

I let the carton sit by the door a couple days, just in case an infected person had sneezed on it. 

I opened it:

You see what's inside. An insulated Styrofoam cooler, same dimensions as above.

I opened it.

Inside, this gorgeous golden-lettered Godiva tissue paper floated up. I opened that. 

Underneath, bubble-wrapped boxes, carefully ensconced as if they were nuclear warheads. I lifted out my precious cargo. The carton was still heavy. Did they include gifts? So many? At least five pounds. I searched below the plastic to find...

Under the beautiful dark brown (for dark chocolate, my fave) boxes were six ice packs.

I opened it. Carefully removing the cardboard sleeve (they only do that for exquisite items) I lifted the cover. I slid away some delicate tissue paper.

Aah!

AT LAST!