Away from family during Corona

This past spring, the Coronavirus appeared out of seemingly nowhere, it all happened so quickly. Just 2 weeks before we planned our trip to see our family, lockdown happened. We didn’t worry too much about it because we thought that it would all be fixed in a matter of weeks, maybe 2 months tops. But it went completely differently.

2 weeks before lockdown

2 weeks before the lockdown happened, my brother flew over for a visit he wanted to travel a bit in Ireland and see his nieces again. By then, there was some talk about some disease in China that was very contagious. But as far as we knew, nothing yet in Ireland or the Netherlands. But by the time it was almost time for him to go back home, it had spread to Ireland. There was talk of the measures that would be taken if things got worse. We were afraid that my brother might get stranded in Ireland and that he wouldn’t be able to get back in time for his school and work. Luckily, they would start keeping the planes grounded only the Monday after he flew back home.

Lockdown in full swing

Once it was clear that more people got infected with Covid-19 the government decided that we would slowly go into lockdown. On Thursday the 12th of March, both my husband and eldest daughter were told that they would have to stay at home for the time being. For our family at least this is the day everything started to feel real. 

The moment that I will never forget might be the Tuesday after when I went for my weekly shop. Half of the shop was bare, I had seen it like that before when over the winter we had some storms. Naively I thought that everything would be fine after 2 more days. For that was what was the case whenever a storm hit. But when I came back on Thursday, assuming that things would have gone back to normal, everything was even emptier. I bought whatever would keep us in food for at least a week more and went home flabergasted.

Back in the Netherlands

My mother and I tend to call each other every day. So when I told her about these crazy Irish with that hamster shopping, I assumed she would be surprised too. But the opposite was true, she told me that the Dutch shops were empty too. Everyone was apparently simultaneously freaking out, and buying as much food as they could and for some strange reason toilet paper. Luckily we hardly use any tp because we use mainly family cloths, sorry if that is too much TMI.

My dearest grandad

I love my grandparents ever so much, I used to spend every minute I could, at their house when I was younger. And they lived a bit over half an hour’s drive away, which now sounds so close by, but for Dutch standards that is quite far. After all, the Netherlands is very tiny and densely populated, which means you don’t have to travel far to see loads of people. 

But I was lucky that there was always someone willing to drive me there and back again. I loved being there with them, I would chat endlessly with them and loved to tease my grandad. But once it became apparent who would be a high-risk group, I was frightened to learn that my grandad would be among them. It’s not that he is so very old but more so that he has severe COPD. He has an oxygen tank to which he needs to be hooked up on for most of the day, it kinda makes him look like Darth Vader. Which I suspect, was a major factor in him accepting the use of the contraption. But because of his bad lungs, he is now almost constantly in my mind. I fear for his health and mental wellbeing, he hates being cooped up all the time. But now he has no choice in the matter.

Now that restrictions are easing

Now that we are slowly going back to semi-normal I see my family visiting each other again. But because I’m on an Island and thus can’t drive to them, I still can’t see them. When I knew that if I wanted or needed to see my family, I could just fly over, it felt like I was closer to them, then I actually was. But now that planes aren’t even flying, and apart from swimming to them, there isn’t any way I can get to them. I find that it breaks my heart when I think about them all being together. Even though seeing them on video or talk to them through a video call, makes me so glad it also makes my heartache. I don’t know when I can see them again, and that is a very disempowering feeling.

Cancelled flights

One of the things that has been very cumbersome was our cancelled flights. Our original flight was booked for the beginning of April, but unfortunately, our flight got cancelled. We already suspected that it would be cancelled because of the decreased flights. So we just changed our flight date to the end of July, we figured that by then flights should be back to normal. 

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, because our flight for July also got cancelled. This one we didn’t really see coming, also because it was cancelled way earlier than the April flight, which was cancelled 2 weeks before departure. Now we have can change our flight again, hopefully, this time it won’t be cancelled.

All in all

I find not being able to be close to my family is very stressful. Because unlike most people we can’t even see each other through a window or with plenty of distance between us. I literally can’t reach them, but on the other hand, at least I can video chat with them.