Escape From the City

Dear readers, did you miss me last Tuesday? Well I missed you! But, after over 100 days of covid confinement, my husband Peter and I were able to escape.

We had been looking forward to our annual family summer holiday for several months but, with the arrival of the pandemic, the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors with our children and grandchildren seemed doomed. We were beyond delighted when the owners of the resort decided to open to returning guests only, and we learned that we would be the only ones there for the week.

At first, this new freedom was hard to grasp. We had been well-trained over the past 3 months. We were armed with our masks, a large container of hand sanitizer, and several tubs of disinfecting wipes. But we still felt a bit like criminals and kept checking the rear-view mirror for signs of Dr. Da Villa chasing us as we drove north.

We finally arrived at the resort and unpacked the other necessary ingredients for the week: junk food, drinks, bathing suits – only the essentials! Then, because the weather was already hot, we were lured into the lake. The kids swam out to the raft, climbed on, and tried out the water slide. Our grand daughter Agnes immediately started counting: 1..2…3… She announced her goal for the week: 100 times down the slide. Meanwhile the adults, not quite so ambitious, swam leisurely or floated around on noodles. Slowly all of us felt our Covid 19 concerns sinking to the bottom of the lake.

Our daily routine evolved: breakfast, swimming, lunch, swimming, snacks, more swimming, drinks, dinner, maybe another swim, bed. This leisurely schedule was punctuated by a few exciting moments, such as when both family dogs, who were thought to be non-swimmers, jumped into the lake too. Or when Nana and Nonno decided to take 2 grand children on a tour in the 4-seat paddle boat. Then a third grand child jumped on and swamped the boat, tossing Nonno into the water. Meanwhile, all week, Agnes continued to announce her slide score: 78…79…80…

Occasionally we emerged from the lake for an outing. One day we drove to a nearby park with hiking trails. There were very few other people on the trails but there were lots and lots of mosquitoes. They seemed not to know about Covid 19 and they got WAY too close and personal. That night we did a lot of scratching as we sat around a campfire retelling our adventures.

On another day the kids felt the need for the all-time summer treat – ice cream. We debated about this. Should we take a chance and go back to civilization, even briefly? Hesitantly we piled into cars and headed for the ice cream store in the local town. And there we found people wearing masks and lining up 2 meters apart; stark evidence that yes, Covid 19 was still around. We located a table away from other families, and nervously licked at our strawberry, hazelnut and butterscotch ripple. Then we sanitized our hands and headed back to the safety of our germ-free retreat.

In the middle of the week we put up a big flag and dug our red shirts out of our suitcases. It was Canada Day. The kids decorated each other with temporary tattoos: beavers, flags, male leaves, and “I Heart Canada” emblems. The adults shared news of Covid 19 spreading out of control in the US and so many other places. We couldn’t think of a better year to celebrate this great country we live in.

All too soon Agnes announced her final slide tally -259, (an over-achiever for sure!) and we knew it was time to go home. We reluctantly gathered up our worn-out bathing suits, and scarfed the few leftover snacks. After some final hugs, we piled into our separate cars and drove back to our lives of isolation in the city.

Sue