Looking at me through the corner of her eye, she said, I doubt it will get any easier. In deep thought, this sounded like a voice from a sunken place down the dark gutters of a deserted Kampala City. With zero buzzes, no lights, zero street children, zero waste, zero boda-bodas, let’s just say; zero everything. The voice served as an awakening from a dreaded dream. It aroused a reflection, on the reality of a life, my family and I once knew! An experience we thought was hard but threw us a curveball as proof that we previously had it better off! A life where seeking hope was the answer to most of our worries. We’ve always had hope, faith and confidence, but now we strive for such.
We’ve always had hope, faith and confidence but now we strive for such.
A life filled with racing thoughts on who had to do school runs; is it I to pick the kids, the house helper or her – my wife. The weekends when I’d stay in the house when I thought to step out was indeed a waste of time because I always found something to do on my computer! The luxury of that choice is not mine to have!! Not anymore. In the words of Thomas Paine – “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.” A life where the chicken pet could walk around the house freely while making that sound of – “you will have me one day but not today”. Well, not anymore, we ate it in the second week of quarantine – it was the last day, in celebration of the end! Or so we thought!
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
Thomas Paine
Guess what? We were wrong; 21 more days were added, precisely the same amount of time it takes a chick to hatch. It turns out we ate that chicken for nothing after all. Poor bird! Twenty-one more days of the same experience of the 14 days! Maybe even worse – ridiculous!! You get out of bed to dress up for the couch, really! Who ever thought that we’d ever see a time like this? I must confess, I had a lot of crazy ideas in my childhood; like waiting for God to drop some toys for my brothers and I. There was even a time I wished I could skip school, to stay in bed and curl up. I wished there were no schools but only chocolate and ice cream supermarkets.
You get out of bed to dress up for the couch…
In hindsight, my mind was never really ready for an idea as crazy as “just wake up and sleep”. There are no more good mornings from most members of my household; I don’t even mind them like I used to. I just choose to understand them, I mean if I can’t differentiate the days anymore, how do I expect them to distinguish the times? Also, I feel like there’s too much going on already, a missed good morning can just be allowed to slide. See, this is not the time we throw in all our cards. Nope. This is not the time to despair. We have to understand that this is a new experience for every one of us. We have sailed for so long, but none of us has ever encountered such rough waters. We’ve got to hold on to each other, learn and paddle through together.
We have sailed for so long, but none of us has ever encountered such rough waters.
Leaning against the kitchen counter, with my head bowed and hands holding the counter end; I listened to her musings, I knew that what she said wasn’t a question, but I felt like I owed her something. A word, at least. A statement of hope to show solidarity and comfort her. After a momentary silence, I said to her it won’t get any easier, in fact, I am not even sure things will ever go back to the way they were. One thing I’m sure of is, there will be brighter days ahead, and most importantly, we will emerge stronger. I believe this with every drop of blood that runs through my veins. She turned her face to me and hugged me tightly! Alas! I woke up as single as I was when I drifted off to sleep, with one of the couch cushions in my bosom. Only to realize it was 1 pm and the sunlight had found its way through the blinder spaces in my window. Albeit awake, I re-echoed the words and sentiments in my daydream.
We will be stronger!