I could tell you a story about two lovers just getting started when the pandemic swept in. Of how they had chosen to distance days before the lockdown mandate was laid. And how that very night they’d danced together from a distance, on an imaginary dance floor they created in a large, open, green space near their homes. How they’d drank wine from plastic cups and taken turns selecting the songs, sharing what each tune meant to them. Opening up their world to one another a little more with each distance dance. I could describe how they’d danced by the light of the moon for what seemed like moments, yet hours had gone by. And how during the moonlit dance, the announcement was made and their whole world changed. The restrictions were tightened and their distance dance seemed all at once a faraway dream. The magic of that night still on their sanitised fingertips, the two lovers now went forth to separate lockdown lives, determined not to let their music die. Over the following days and weeks, I could share how they found creative ways to connect within the new order they’ve been served. Love notes and silly games played from their phones, Zoom calls into the early hours, long gazes full of longing. They could still hold each other’s eyes after all. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I could tell you the story of how she fell in love with him from a distance. How she felt his love was returned. How lockdown may lock down the hatches, but the human heart can never be held back. I have many other stories to tell of my experience in this lockdown. But this is my favourite. So, I’ll tell you about it.
