Love in the time of Corona

The phrase ‘Love in the time of Corona,’ just popped into my head ( thanks to Gabriel Garcia Márquez). Too good to waste, so now I have to write a blog post around it. Shit. But I must write as it has been a month since my last blog post. 

Lots of people have written about the last month – or the last few months. Living through a pandemic is like existing in a bubble. It all comes down to four walls and the family unit. Strange, yet it’s the way we have to be for a little while longer. I’m not really one for counting my blessings, but I’m trying to draw some positives out of all this

It’s a bit hard to love much about these COVID times.  But here goes.

I love the fact that we’re all well, that we have shelter and food and water. And jobs- we have jobs. I am so glad we live here – in Australia.

I love our doctors and nurses and support staff. They are the heroes in all of this mess. As too are our teachers, cleaners,  and retail staff (who still have a job)- all those who are at the frontline.

I love how our hospitality and tourism industry is down but not out. Not yet. They’re adapting to this strange new world and some are reinventing themselves as takeaway food shops and gourmet grocery stores. I particularly love how some are donating food to hospitals and other essential services staff.

I love how my work is reinventing itself. In the tourism biz, working from home is a challenge. That said, I love the way that my corporation is reinventing itself. We are forced us to look at the way we do business, and working out what we can do better when we are on the other side of this.

I love watching/ listening to my partner, the architect, work. Never really had the chance before. He’s bloody good. And in this time of hibernation, he’s doing a lot more of what he enjoys and is happier. Hell, he even got out his drawing board and is hand-drawing. I haven’t seen him do that for years.

I love the adaptability of my young adult kids who are remote learning. Yes, there are blips and curveballs, but the university is trying its very best to make things run as smoothly as possible.

I love watching my dog who is bewildered that we’re all home – all the time. I love her presence in the study as we tap away at our keyboards.

I love reading The New York Times – which I subscribed to in early March. I am so glad I did.

I really love Sam Neill’s Instagram at present. And watching Matthew McConaughey doing a remote Bingo call was pretty good too.

I love my little garden which is still a tangled mass of summer veggies. That’ll be attended to soon.

I love that there are two very new babies in our street. I’m just so sad there are no baby cuddles for the foreseeable future. 

I love that my social life unofficially revolves around my dog, the dog park and her doggy pals. In a time when we all have to deal with the unknown, dogs are blissfully unaware and just want to have fun. I envy them.

I love that I’ve gone back to reading real books as opposed to online.  So I’ve set aside my iPad and now have a physical to-be-read pile.

That’s enough love for one blog post. I’m now going back to bed to watch puppy videos. It’s the safest place to be at present.

Stay well everyone!