Blogger’s block.

What an extraordinary privilege it is to have too much to write about?!  Not something the average blogger experiences but it too has its own block: where to start and what to write?

At the risk of giving too much away, I find myself literally living the proverbial dream. Picture the scene: calm, turquoise and aqua waters, cool enough to be refreshing; the chalkiest, white pebbled beach, smooth enough not to cut and stab but rocky enough to give a good reflexology session, free of charge; the sun shining, not too brightly, nor too hot as to be pleasant to sit in without shade; the temperature not hot enough to have one searching for the next air conditioned room, but with a slight freshness to the breeze. Springtime in the northern hemisphere at its best and we get to enjoy all this. For this, I count myself privileged and blessed beyond my wildest imaginings!

The craziness of these covid times that we are living in, coupled with the mostly illogical and thoroughly confusing proclamations and protocols of powerful politicians, has created this unplanned adventure, far out of our control and comfort zone. But, as the old saying goes: when life gives you lemons… one has a choice: either sour everything or make lemonade – we have opted for the latter!

There is nothing quite like striking the jackpot with a bargain or two: dirt cheap flights (all covid protocols observed and boxes checked), an airbnb search that threw up a bumper offer for an inclusive boutique hotel, at half the price of the cheapest search and a car hire that went from the most expensive to more affordable than the usual, back in sunny South Africa. The irony of the car hire is that we were upgraded from our usual “entry level, plus aircon” to something a lot larger, more powerful and a lot more luxurious. All this additional stuff when we have the least luggage ever: a small cabin sized, roll-on bag each.

And so we wait out our quarantine time in Paradise.

The necessary social distancing has been taken care of as it’s out of summer season. The village is chugging along on limited business hours, stock and customers. The hotel is virtually empty, apart from ourselves and two other couples. The skeleton staff are friendly, polite and cogniscient of the protocols. All this without the paranoia and panic – Heaven indeed!

All this comes at a price, of course. The cost of this little adventure has no actual price tag since there is no value that one can attach to the opportunity of attending one’s daughter’s special fifth year graduation. That moment of standing on either side of her to show her our support and our pride in her courage and bravery is priceless. So, this pill is a bitter one indeed and one that makes the emotional person that I am, tear-up at the very thought of what we have been “forced” to miss out on.

Not to invalidate our disappointment it is however, a reality check when we consider the fact that our disappointment is not related to the loss of a life, for which we are beyond thankful.

My heart aches for those who have had to endure the unbearable agony of absence from the side of loved ones in their last moments – that too has no price tag.

Back to those lemons. Here they have the sweetest skin, the whitest pith and the tangiest flesh. Our unplanned adventure has elements of all three and, as with a lemon, one would not be the same without the other.

Life is about balance and sometimes the scales seem to tip in an unfair, unbalanced manner. It’s in the waiting and walking in faith, that the balance is corrected and our gratitude tank is filled once again.