Covid - Part 2

Gotta love quarantine.  

 So.. I left the territory.  I left Australia all together.  

I felt like a failure.. no longer a leader and elder in my field, but, quite defeated by the whole thing.  I had to buy a new ticket.  The airlines had cancelled my return ticket, on their own, but not offered an alternative.  So, I bought a new ticket and flew into Vancouver, and on to Kelowna. 

I was looking forward to Kelowna.  Karen had chosen an apartment right in the downtown, and I thought we would have great fun together.  Karen was a school chum, and we had shared an apartment when we were teens.. first in downtown Vancouver, and then later in Burnaby.  It should have worked well, but really, it didn’t.  

It started with fourteen days of quarantine.  Try that in a small apartment.. good lord.  It was awful.  It was the start of the pandemic so I was following the rules very closely.  I didn’t even go out for a walk!  On about day ten, I hadn’t seen Karen for a day or two and decided to take the rubbish out myself.. and it felt like a guilty pleasure.  I watched a girl in another apartment across the way.. pacing.. rubbing her hands.  I figure she must be locked in as well.  I watched people on the streets below, walking their dogs or just heading out, maybe to work, in their cars, and I was truly jealous of the freedom they had. I watched Netfliks.. read a bit.  I had no paints and really didn’t feel like writing.  Nothing creative about being locked in a small, unfurnished apartment, for two weeks.  

But finally.  I was allowed out.  

It was great at first, even though there were so many restrictions.  I did make it to the beach.  I did go grocery shopping on my own.  Rea came to visit once in a while.. we stayed masked and at least six feet apart.. but I didn’t see much of Karen.  She was busy with her grand daughter, and so, because I knew no one else in the area, I was pretty much on my own.  On my own, in a city where I knew no one else, (Dan and Rea lived more than an hour away), and I got restless and depressed.  I had to do something. 

Then, mom and dad’s inheritance came through.  I had to decide how to invest that, which was great, as I needed a project and I had to get out of that apartment.  Apartment living is not what I needed!  I was a bit of a bush girl.  So… I started to search for a house.  

Ya.. why not jump right in.  

I got an agent and started a search.  I decided the area around Salmon Arm was not only central to the boys, but also where Dan and Rea had settled and good friends are important.  My price range had me looking at dumpy trailers, and small houses with asbestos.  It wasn’t going to work.  

I had arrived in June and by now it was almost September.  I had a van, an enormous Dodge Caravan.  Wasn’t sure I needed such a big vehicle but I figured it was perfect for camping in.  I could go see the kids and not be in the way.  I could explore the world.  

But, it was a time of Covid.  We were not exactly encouraged to explore the world.  The summer of 2020 was not a bad one however, the numbers had settled down a bit.  There was no vaccine though, and by September, the numbers were going up as people started to move their lives more indoors.. so, travel to see the boys was not exactly encouraged.  I felt almost guilty going to see my own kids.  It was a crazy time.. I was restless.. bored and depressed.  And what I did to comfort myself in times like this was to travel.. be on the move.  But.. travel was restricted.  

I needed change.  So.. I searched harder for a home.  

And then I found it.