Hellooo my tulips! I hope you are blooming, because mine aren’t and won’t. I have a garden of headless plants, largely because they didn’t get enough sun last year, and aren’t the propagating kind. Their green leaves, full of empty promise, stand as a symbol of 2020 so far.

 

On that cheery note, hello from Ellen, who says I make her laugh. Kathy is a senior caregiver, currently on leave. She herself is not a senior, but rather a junior, as she puts it. Janet remembered to buy eggs, thanks to yesterday’s post. Heather admits that she too might have picked a fight with her husband just to have something to do.

 

Rick has a burning question: if he and his wife have been in isolation for over 2 weeks, and his daughter and her family have also been in isolation for the same period, having all their groceries delivered and not leaving the house for any reason but walks, can they get together? I’m no doctor, but I think the answer is a depressing ‘probably not’. We are being told to isolate ourselves as households, and there’s a reason for that. No matter what precautions we take, we still don’t fully understand how the virus is passed on. Many people carrying the disease are completely asymptomatic, and unless each and every one in both households has been tested and found to be clear, there is still a risk. It’s awful, I know, but it’s temporary. It’s why we have to work from home if we can. In the mean time (and yes, the time is being very mean), we have so many ways to communicate, and also to entertain ourselves. The more restrictive our measures are now, the sooner we will get out of this.

 

Everyone is making sacrifices, some more difficult than others. Here’s a story from Nuala, reprinted with her permission. I promise you that I could not get through it with tearing up, in a good way.

 

On Thursday, our daughter, Caitlin, got word via email that she has been accepted as an intern (doctor) at the main hospital in Limerick, Ireland, where she had completed her medical degree two years ago.  It was a dream come true, but they had moved up the start to the end of April.  She had to accept by our time 9 am Friday and then book a flight right away as she must quarantine for 14 days before starting at the hospital.  There was a flurry of signing documents, booking a flight (would there be one, would she be allowed to board) and then finding a place to live and getting groceries for the 14 day quarantine.  One of her friends who is also a resident in the hospital offered a couch if needed.  Well, we got it all done, she has a place with her own ensuite.  Her suitcase was loaded and reloaded with clothes, technology, books, pasta and Easter chocolate.  That should get her started! I cooked a huge Easter dinner for three of us, there were heartbreaking goodbyes to her fiancé, to her niece and nephew on line and then her Dad and I.  We dropped her at Departures and I never wanted to let her go when I hugged her, but it’s done.  She was on a pretty empty plane to London and then to Dublin. She’s on an empty bus to Limerick now, loaded down with heavy suitcases and her back pack.  And I can tell you, I’ll be out on my deck every night cheering for all the frontline healthcare workers and I will shout the loudest for my daughter.

 

Go Caitlin! Go Nuala! Go everyone who has to give up so much to gain so much more. When we hug again, we will never let go.

 

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