One of my dearest friends Bec is our next story. She is one of the most creative people I know. She put together this gorgeous “Easter” setup and even had a little egg hunt and egg and spoon race. Certainly made for some fun shots and something to remember this time.
What is one thing you will always remember about this time?
How lucky we were! To have each other, to have supportive networks, to live in the country we do and to live regionally, to have a yard to play in, to both be able to work from home, that our toddler still day naps, to be surrounded by businesses adapting to this new normal – I mean, we can get fine dining takeaway! It’s not lost on us that we are really lucky to be able to socially isolate – a privilege not afforded to everyone worldwide.
What do you think is really important right now?
Looking after each other. And realising it’s OK not to be too ambitious during this time and achieving nothing more than keeping each other safe is enough.
What have you done to stay in touch with others?
We’ve been video calling the family and posting letters. It’s great we can keep in touch and still see each other even if it’s on a screen. This would have looked so different 20 years ago.
What have you been doing to keep yourself and your family busy?
We introduced a mystery box – which funnily enough is a big toilet paper box. We’ve been putting a new thing in there each day – something to do like craft activity or maybe a toy or even something that’s been at the back of the cupboard for a while. It’s something for our little bloke (and us) to look forward to each day – a bit like a cheap Santa visiting each night. As busy as it is with a three year old, we are also really lucky to have his energy lighting up the house. And while it was so hard not spending Easter with family and friends I’m grateful it fell when it did as it was really fun to be able to create some magic around it for him – and to also capture this moment in our family’s history with these awesome photos.
What is one good thing that you hope will happen after this is all over? The sense of community has been uplifting – the times I’ve headed out to grab essentials you get the feeling people are supportive of each other. I think that will always be there (and always has been) it might go on the back burner but we’ll know it was there. The panicked buying at the start just came from fear – which is completely understandable since we haven’t dealt with a pandemic in our lifetimes. It’s comforting as you see the stock reappearing on the shelves and feels a bit symbolic of how far we’ve come.
Does this scare you?
We’ve just been taking each week at a time. Sometimes it’s easy to forget what’s actually going on, until you’re at the supermarket and they have the announcements over the loud speaker about social distancing – that jolts you back to reality quickly. I think I got a bit teary in Woollies the first time I heard it ha ha.
We are very fortunate and I have found life to be a bit more simple lately as we really only have one thing to worry about now – keeping us safe, fed and housed.
I do wonder how hard it will actually be going back to our complex lives after this simplicity. The energy of adapting to this new normal will also start to dwindle. Country people have always socially distanced – but it’s broken up with big gatherings like the local show or races or a wedding – it’s not sustainable to be permanently socially distanced – we will all really need to be around others by the end of it.
But the main thing is this isn’t forever. I was explaining to our son yesterday that soon the leaves on our front yard’s tree will turn orange and fall. Then there will be a while where there’s no leaves at all, and slowly, new leaves will appear. Around then, things might start going back to normal (whatever post-pandemic normal is). To quote Pearl Jam, “No matter how cold the winter there’s a spring time ahead”.
