First Half of Quarantine

 

Ken and I had the privilege of going on a trip to the States at the beginning of February. What a treasure it was to visit family and friends whom we hadn't seen for so long. We spent a few days with Kayleen and Carlin in Guys Mills, Pennsylvania, hung out with Kerra for one evening in the Lancaster, PA area (where she did her 5-week internship in a day school as part of her Faith Builders teacher apprentice program), visited with my twin Annette and Nolan for a couple hours as we passed through Ohio (where Nolan was having revival meetings in Columbiana that week) on our way to Wisconsin, where we finished off our trip by rendezvousing with Mom and Dad and getting into the homes of  each of my five brothers and their families. It was such a rich and refreshing twelve days!

All of this called for Ken and me going into a hibernation of sorts when we got back home. Canada's Covid regulations require travelers entering this fair land from outside the country to undergo a two-week quarantine after arriving and before going about their home life and business as usual. Although there were some frustrations and unique challenges that came with quarantining for that long, we came through safely, and we'd be quick to tell you that the trip was well worth any inconvenience we experienced in those fourteen days.

In an attempt to document our time of quarantine, I will share some impressions of it in this blog post and the next. Here are the first seven impressions - one for each day of the first half of quarantine.

Day #1 Impression: Numerous items accumulated in my cup of gratitude, making it brim up and overflow...things like being able to show negative Covid test results to the border official, having our own home as a suitable place in which to quarantine, arriving home at 7:00 in the evening and getting to count it as one whole day of quarantine already done. 

Day #2 Impression: We shall never go hungry during quarantine. We must have the most thoughtful and offer-y neighbors, relatives and church people ever. And when we tell them that, no, we don't need anything; that I did a huge grocery stocking up stint before we left on our trip, and we'll be fine, some of the offerers bring goodies anyway. And we're not the kind of quarantiners to refuse them. I mean, who in their right palate would turn down doughnuts (in all their gooey glazey goodness) from the sister-in-law?

Day #3 Impression: You can't please everyone, even if they are all in government. The uniformed guy in the booth at the border may tell you that no, you won't need to report your health daily to the Gov of Can during your quarantine, but the next day the people from Gov Can will tell you that yes, indeed, you do need to. And then you discover that since you weren't savvy enough to get the ArriveCan app before your arrival at your quarantine destination, now you can't enter your daily health report online; you need to phone in and enter the daily update details via an automated voice questionnaire. 

And if the one quarantine officer that calls to check up on you emphasizes that when you do get out for fresh air (the only reason you may step outside the door during your 14days, aside from dire emergency) the sidewalk and driveway in front of your house are not your permitted walking spaces - only your balcony or back yard are, chances are the next government man or woman you deal with will be quite fine with you walking anywhere on your property, as long as it's a private outdoor space. 

I conclude that one of the hardest parts about keeping the rules is not knowing for sure which rules to keep.

Day #4 Impression: In the presence of writers, I am in good company.  When I joined three friends in a Writer's Hour, I entered the video call excited but slightly intimidated as I compared my writing and publishing expertise with theirs. I don't exactly know how this happens, but I can easily begin to believe I am alone in my particular struggles (or that I am the only one to even face challenges, in the first place!) 

To hear that the poetic wordcrafter in our group tends to sit on her project eggs as long as I do, in hopes of their soon hatching, that the advice columnist who can post a brilliant opinion piece on Facebook and moments later have a comment trail a meter long agonizes over which direction to head for her next writing project, and that the prolific producer of children's books, in spite of her genuine, humorous way of describing relationships, deals with worry that she'll come across to her readers as mean, was somehow freeing and reassuring for me. I left the chat encouraged to know that we are all ordinary ladies with something to offer each other and something to learn from each other. 

Day #5 Impression: There are ways to support a community event from the confines of one's home. Last year, Ken was the captain for a team our church entered in an event called "Coldest Night of the Year". It's an annual Feb. event in Kitchener in which people walk 5 or 10 kilometers to raise awareness and money for helping the homeless in our city. Again this year, Ken organized an Oasis Mennonite Church team for CNOY. He and I couldn't physically join the group in their walk because of our quarantine, but we greatly enjoyed baking cookies - peanut butter, and chocolate chip - as refreshments for the walkers on our team. 

Day #6 Impression: Quarantining makes one more aware of weather. During our two weeks of not leaving the property, I took notice of scenes outside our windows more than usual. The different kinds of snowfall - from lazy flakes to wild flurries, the pinks and blues of a sunrise muted by a frosty February fog, the sun painting a crazy network of shadows on the snow in the afternoon orchard all greatly fascinated me. And who knew that, on a walk along the bush lane after dark, one can watch sparkles dancing on a field of snow in the light of a winter moon? 

                                                   Original Photo Cred: Ken Martin

Day #7 Impression: I wonder about dreams. I had one during a night of fitful sleep due to a strange and pretty intense earache. ("Is it Covid?" I worried to myself. Every jot and tittle of health malfunction is suspect these days.) In my dream I was with Bible School students (was I thinking about them because of the new Maranatha page on Facebook?) at an informal gathering. Everything there was going wrong for me, including the discovery of pages having been ripped out of a section of the book I was reading aloud to the group. Someone closed the meeting with prayer, though, and I could feel the Spirit moving like a wind among us. Students and teachers began praying aloud and crying. I joined in, and while I don't know what my specific request or lament was, I remember my sense of the Spirit bringing vivacity and community into the group. I was drawn to that fire and power. 

May it be so in real life.