A Covid 19 Easter

As all of us created new ways to celebrate Easter this year, it will be a celebration we will never forget.

My husband Peter and I began the festivities by buying our grandchildren some Easter treats, the kind you might find at a drug store while you were picking up a prescription. Then we had to figure out how to deliver them. We saw a rabbit in the back yard on Saturday, but he was occupied eating my new tulips, so we scared him away and didn’t even consider offering him the Easter Bunny delivery job.

Then we decided to use the Nana and Nonno Delivery Express. We would drive to each of our children’s homes, sit in their back yards, 2 meters apart, 15 minutes max. No hugging, air kisses only, and no bathroom visits. We’d leave our Easter goodies on the table where the kids could later pick them up, wash them off with soap and water for twenty seconds, and eat them.

I decided I needed something nice to wear on our adventure. I chose my coral cashmere tunic top with the billowing sleeves, hoping that people would be so distracted by my lovely sweater that nobody would notice my straw hair growing over my eyes. But the top was dirty and there are no dry cleaners open. So I looked up cashmere washing instructions on Google. I did use very cold water and very gentle soap. Nevertheless my tunic is now a tight top with tight sleeves.

Early on Easter morning we gathered up our Easter goodies and headed out. The delivery service went well, except that it was a cold day and nobody could see my clean but shrunken top hidden under my winter coat after all. Also, we had had too much coffee before we went and it was a little stressful getting back home to a bathroom in time.

We spent Easter afternoon reading the weekend Globe and Mail. One entire page in the arts section featured a mural which depicted disposable rubber gloves in varying Easter shades of blue and pink, all thrown artfully around a parking lot. Then there was a piece about how to sew your own face mask. If you get good at that, you can move on to sewing yourself a new spring wardrobe. The book reviews focused on stories about past pandemics. How about Albert Camu’s book The Plague to lift your spirits? The sports section was almost non-existent. One picture showed little lego figures playing hockey with their little lego hockey sticks.

For dinner we had considered having our traditional Easter lamb cooked on the BBQ. But there was no lamb in the one grocery store we visited. So we settled for an Easter chick – en. Peter cooked his favourite vegetable – rapini with hot peppers – to give our meal a little kick. And we found half an apple pie at the bottom of the freezer. We got Alexa to play some Easter music. What more could we ask for?

After dinner we chose a movie to watch: The Martian with Matt Damon. We picked it because it’s quite suspenseful and would be a good diversion. Damon is left for dead on Mars, but he is not dead after all, and he has to survive on his own for several years until astronauts visit Mars again. Unfortunately the whole scene is eerily similar to our current situation; where we are alone so much, and foraging for food until we can make our once-weekly visit to the grocery store. Well maybe that is a BIT of a stretch, but I do catch myself talking to me sometimes…

At least Matt Damon didn’t have to battle invisible bacteria. There is no Covid 19 on Mars. I hear there’s a mission heading there in the 2030’s. Anybody want to go?

Stay safe in the meantime.

Sue