Home, sweet Home?

“Time in the South Sea Islands – different from time elsewhere. There are no seasons to mark the progress of the year. There is no winter to prepare for, no spring to long for. There are always crops to harvest, fish to catch, and hibiscus blossoms to put in one’s hair. Every day begins at sunrise; every night at sunset. Life loiters through undistinguishable uniformity. There is no yesterday to regret; no tomorrow to worry about.”

Our hearts reverberate with these words as we fondly and thankfully think of our amazing time we had on the island of Tonga. – Tonga has now closed the borders to all incoming traffic, air and sea, and we hope and pray they will remain free of the Covid-19 virus.

As you are all aware, the events have just tumbled one over the other in the last few days, and our minds and emotions are in constant adjustment mode. We arrived back home last Saturday (on the last flight out of Tonga), and had hardly settled down in preparation for our two weeks of self-isolation, when the news came from our Prime Minister that the whole country will be in lockdown for four weeks starting at midnight tomorrow Wednesday. Everyone is to stay home in their houses. The borders will close. – We have just over 100 Covid-19 cases at the time of writing, and thankfully no deaths. The government is taking drastic measures NOW in order to keep the spread contained. Good decision.

I know, we are all ‘in the same boat’, so I don’t need to explain that we long to hug our children and grandchildren, to meet with our friends over coffee, drive places in the car, and so much more. Now, we have to wait at least another four weeks. And what then? Nobody knows. The world in lockdown. Who could have ever predicted THAT?

Our families have visited us and supplied us with food – bless them. Rolf and I stand at the door, they two meters apart, and we talk and laugh and catch up. Meanwhile, the children race around the house on our worn-out tricycles, shouting “hi Grandma and Papi, look at me!” Little Selina, as she pedals past me: “Hi Grandma! Love you. But we’re not allowed to huggle you….” – For now, we’ll have to be content being able to SEE them from a safe distance away. Children are great in accepting things as they are and just keep on living life to the fullest. We’ll take their example.

Challenging times ahead for all of us. But if we stick to the rules, this could save lives. Something good will come out of this all. That I believe with all my heart.

Be strong, stay well, take care. Get creative. Live for the moment and savour it. We love you all. Thank you for being our supporters and cheerleaders. We couldn’t have done it without you.

And we’ll all need each other over the coming weeks. Ofa lahi atu.

Note: We will publish another post later on, with photo highlights from our time in Tonga.