Waiting for the end of the last few Covid-19 years was not an easy task. We braved it as well as could be expected; we followed all of the rules put to us by our nation’s health protection agency the CDC. In the United States, the first coronavirus related activity restriction was issued on March 12, 2020. The quarantine order required that individuals exposed stay home. But this was characterized as a global pandemic outbreak as early as January 30, 2020 by WHO , The World Health Organization. No one really expected this to get as out of control as it did. And , in an oblivious state of selected ignorance, we were off to visit our son , Robert who lives in London. This is a city with an enormous amount of history , magnificent architecure and priceless art. And ,of course, the markets and Pubs! I had always wanted to visit th UK. So Angel and I purchased our Brtish Airways tickets in 2019 and we were to travel at the end of February and were to return on March 17. the deadline for traveling outside of the country and for returning as well. We almost did not make it back home due to the traveling restrictions. But as a dear friend of mine says,’God’s plan is always perfect.”

It is still a mystery to me how people travel anywhere, much less overseas, with only a carry on. Luckily, my husband feels the same way. We are both guilty of over packing so that we can have wardrobe choices. We don’t like to be limited or to have to wear the same thing every day. And it has nothing to do with the fact that you will not be seen in those outfits by the same people when you go out. We simply like looking our best at all times; when you dress up and look great you feel fabulous. At least, that’s how we feel. As a matter of fact, when we are to travel anywhere, he begins shopping for both of us as if it we are in need of a bridal trousseau. God only knows that we do not need another item of clothing for at least 10 years. But he takes such pleasure in the hunt for acquiring designer clothing but at very good prices. And he really knows fashion and loves it. His father was a tailor and so he was accustomed to only wearing tailor handmade suits. This is a luxury, and always has been, because of the fittings made to perfection and the many hours of labor that this industry requires. If anyone has had the good fortune to have worn , or to wear, tailor made suits , then you know exactly what I’m referring to.

My mother was part owner of a ladies apparel company many years ago. Whenever there was an apparel show a crew of ladies were hired to help sell the clothing to vendors with shops in town and nationwide. This particular line of clothing was mostly for older women who lived on the beach . So , yes, the outfits were extremely colorful and easy to wash and wear. I would have rather chewed off my arm than to be caught wearing any of them. But they sold millions. Mom was an artist , she could design, paint, make patterns and she was a dream seamstress. Anything that I wanted made , straight out of the pages of Vogue or Bazaar was mine for the asking. Therefore, I too have a great love of fashion. She had truly a talent beyond description and she loved sewing for me and for herself. I believe it’s safe to say that both our parents planted the seed of being well groomed at all times; so in this aspect, we are a match made in heaven.

We like to travel to places where it is cold because we have heat in Miami all year round. If we get a couple of weeks of winter we can count ourselves lucky. And by winter I mean 60-50 degrees. That’s it! When we reached London it was in the 30s; we loved it. I get to wear my mink; money well spent I might add. I don’t feel any cold when I wear it ; and it’s very beautiful. We packed scarves, gloves, sweaters, warm pants and many shirts in different colors. And the one item that we saw for the first time being worn on the streets were – masks. And , although, we did take those super N95 masks , we didn’t feel the need to wear them yet.

People were wearing masks on the tube and on the streets. As the days went by, the alert on the virus spreading increased and people were advised but not forced into wearing masks.There was a silent gloom hanging over us as the fear of infection also grew. Hospitals were filled beyond capacity to treat this illness; and it seemed to be attacking the lungs leaving people with shortness of breath; mostly with high fevers. Most too tired to even get out of bed. Severe body aches ,headaches and fatigue plagued most. Then the real horror began when people started to die. Some of them we knew but the numbers of deaths worldwide surpassed comprehension. The news showed footage of trucks parked along side streets in New York loaded with dead bodies because there wasn’t enough room in the hospital morgues.

Our travel that year was tainted by this uncontrollable and stubborn virus that was invented and released upon the world by China via tiny bats. I say “released” because thumb-sized bats that live in a remote Chinese cave in Wuhan are very rarely found in Wuham. I happen to believe the other theory that some scientist argue which is that this was a “lab-leak” . That the virus escaped or was deliberately released from a laboratory in the city. But you must decide what you believe happened . It is believed that it came from live animals but there is no way of proving from the available data that animals transmitted SAR-CoV2 to humans.

We wore our outfits of choice and enjoyed the cold weather , as we had wanted. But the first shop that I saw closed with a sign that read “Closed due to the Corona Virus” was in Robert’s beloved London. Angel and I stood in front of this shop for a long time in disbelief that it was , most definetly, the beginning of a very different world. But what kind of world was yet to be seen.

Our children back in the US kept asking us to go home because travel was going to be stopped by law as of March 17,2023. They were very worried that we would not be allowed to fly back to the states. Especially, if we tested positive for Covid. We left Robert feeling great fear and uncertainty; after all, he was so far away should anything happen. But we got on our flight wearing masks and careful to not touch surfaces without gloves in order to prevent contamination of any kind. When we landed , we were brought out in groups of ten and were greeted by 2-3 people completely suited up in protective outfits and wearing masks and gloves. They asked a few queations as to where we had traveled to and where were we coming back from. We would not have been allowed to come back to the United States from Asia. We were told to not go out from our homes unless absolutely necessary. It was like a science fiction movie that you were in but couldn’t quite wrap your brain around it.

I still don’t know why there was a shortage of toilet paper and paper towels but we loaded up. And Angel bought an enormous amount of hand sanitizer gel, plastic gloves, masks and disinfected sprays. He constantly sprayed me when I wasn’t looking and got me in the eye one day. Needless to say, I was not happy and I told him that he had completely lost his mind. But he hadn’t . He was just trying to protect me. It was like chasing a race horse where you never really catch up.

My little shop The Rose Tree Cottage was shut down , by government order , for three and a half months. It was so difficult to survive but we did, although many of our neighbors did not and ,sadly, had to close down. On the bright side , if there is to be one, we did have the best Christmas season ever because people decided that if they were going to be stuck at home during the Holidays, they were going to make their homes as festive and as spectacular as they could. And we helped them do just that.

We give thanks every day for our health , our friends and families and for our faith in God who saw us through this part of our lives ; that we are able to look back years from today and say we made it because , “God’s plan is always perfect.”

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