Not A Boring Quarantine

On day three of our mandatory quarantine someone asked me: “Are you bored yet?” That was a perfectly legitimate question and if you had asked me back in August during our quarantine I would have answered: “Yes, very much so.” Our house in Mexico is spacious and possesses a concrete patio or two, but after a couple days of self-imposed isolation it felt pretty cramped. Not so our quarantine headquarters here in Alberta. 

We decided to fly straight to Edmonton because we knew we had a place to quarantine at one of my parents farms. On the property is a little house and my brother was kind enough to move out for a couple weeks so we could have the place to ourselves – and not just the house, but the acres of space around it. After our previous quarantine experiences we were actually looking forward to two weeks out in the country. 

The two weeks were a vacation of sorts from our city life back in Mexico. As per the government regulations, we weren’t supposed to go anywhere so we had to stay put and just enjoy what was around us: cows, forests, cornfields, a trampoline, etc. No pressure to get things done and no real deadlines to speak of. We kept busy with yard work and odd jobs around the property, in addition to keeping up with the kids’ homeschool. The physical labour was a welcome change of pace and the outdoors were refreshing. And it wasn’t even that cold. 

It was a joy to see our kids discovering a bit of the world that has been so integral to my life. They marveled at the convenience of rubber boots, taste-tested the corn in the field, learned the functions of the various machines and implements, and inquired about the anatomy of a bull.

My mom kept our pantry and fridge well-stocked and our neighbours across the way supplied us with anything that was lacking. The kids enjoyed learning new foods like perogies, margarine, and frozen juice concentrate. We even had allegedly “authentic” tortillas to remind us of México, although I was missing the spicy salsas. 

As we reflected on our quarantine the other day, Annemarie and I both could see the good in our delayed travel plans. Not everything worked out perfectly, but there certainly has been a montón of things to be grateful for. In a world intent on pounding us into the ground with wave after wave of bad news and disappointment, we have to fight for contentment. We have to fight to see where God is at work and fight to keep our hearts from growing bitter. 

Nobody wants a two week quarantine, but this one was not too bad.