Living in times of corona

I’ve lost track of which quarantine day we’re on. I’ve let it go a bit, knowing that April 6 will probably become June 1. If there’s one thing for sure, it’s that we know nothing. Or very little. The vacation of our dear Stella, who has been taking care of our children for seven years, is not happening. As long as I’ve known her, seven years, her summer vacation is the cork she floats on. Not that her life isn’t fun otherwise (she has more parties and city trips than I do), but when you work hard for fifty hours a week, you can intensely long for three weeks with your snout in the sun.

I’m also very much in the ‘otherwise we would have done this and that now’ mode. Otherwise, we would have celebrated my sister-in-law’s birthday tomorrow. We would have had lunch, with my father-in-law at that nice restaurant in the dunes that has just been completely renovated. Now I’m giving her a digital gift and throwing kiss hands to the home where my father-in-law lives, because we can’t visit him at all. My calendar was full of outings. A trip with Fred de la Bretonnière to their studio in Bilbao, a trip with my love and our middle daughter to New York to celebrate her tenth birthday, and in May we would have thrown a party to celebrate that Formula 1 was coming to Zandvoort. Because of everything, there’s a big cross over it and it’s raining cancellations.

Of course, we’re not pathetic. Those are the people gasping for breath in overcrowded hospitals, their families who can’t come to them, the double shifts of people in healthcare (some even had their cars broken into, unimaginable right?), I have my house, my girls, my laptop, a loved one who is allowed to work, and I fill a good glass of wine every evening so you won’t hear me. But it is surreal.

We received a letter from school. That many children are restless. For us, it’s not too bad. The school rhythm is pretty much in place, they just miss their friends. They are allowed to ride horses twice a week. In a one-on-one situation, it’s allowed by the RIVM, and this way the riding school also gets a bit of money in to cover costs.

All kinds of nice initiatives are coming my way that I support. Tomorrow, fifty tulips will be delivered from a flower grower in Lisse. At 5:00 PM, the bell will ring and a meal from Lekker Lokaal will be delivered. An initiative from the son of @Judithdeklijn who just graduated from the Hotel School and now cooks and delivers from Wednesday to Sunday. We are already looking forward to the creamy tomato soup with country bread, the tom kha kai, and the melanzane alla parmigiana. The girls have decided to set the table extra nicely and print the menus to place on the rolls. If we can’t go to the restaurant, we’ll just bring the restaurant to us?

My sister-in-law is having a birthday tomorrow and I’m giving her a song. At theaterinjekamer.nl you can ask one of the musicians to perform a song of your choice with a personal message for someone. The proceeds go to the artist and to a good cause. Now just need to choose a song.

So this is how we’re getting through the days. Keeping our distance and being kind to each other.

Hang in there, xxx,
May