text:  But I had this one persistent friend. And she said that, Neerja, you need to get out of the house. You need to be out for a few hours. And I resisted. I said, oh, I still have a middle schooler at home. And I was very scared, actually. I didn't want to go back to work after 18 years. I was extremely nervous. And she works at one of the big hardware stores. So she said she's spoken to the store manager, and I should be there at 8 AM. That evening, I had a huge argument with my husband.