Wasn’t it just over a fortnight ago that we finally got to actually dine inside cafes and I got to enjoy my cappuccino and chips at The Public’s Corner while having an insightful conversation with Jeff about the universe and how grateful we are for the life we live?

I don’t have anything against lockdowns if it’s meant to keep us all safe but I’m not gonna lie. It does get a bit annoying at times but that’s just me being sooky about not being able to take Raven to the said cafe like I promised her I would. She was excited for her babyccino and chips. Fortunately, she understands why we can’t go just yet. Just as she understands why she can’t go to her gymnastics and swimming classes yet.

“Because of the germs,” she’d say, her voice a mixture of childish knowledge and disappointment.

“Mama, when will the lockdown end?” she asked. A question I assume all adults in Victoria are asking as well.

I answer her with the same answer that’s probably in everyone’s minds: I don’t know.

We’re expecting Dan Andrews to deliver an announcement tomorrow but in the meantime, I’m not going to waste my energy complaining about events that are beyond my control. I have my books to read. Turkish coffee to make. A family to love. A life to live.

Everything’s gonna be okay. The universe has our backs.

So what if today Jeff and I had to eat our breakfast in the car while parked on a 30-minute parking spot in an alleyway next to Dandenong Library because A1 Bakery would only accept orders for takeaways? It was kind of romantic, in a sense. The morning was cold and gray but the weather was as delightfully warm as a hug inside my cute little Suzuki Alto. With the heater on and the car in idle, we shared a comfortable silence and a large coffee. He ate his vegetarian pizza probably thinking about batteries and inverters.

Meanwhile, I chewed my spinach and cheese triangles wondering how they undo the curse in the movie, Pet Sematary, because Jeff watched the movie last night but didn’t finish it because he got scared (although he might reason otherwise) so there I was trying to figure the shit out on how to undo the undead.

Like I said, it was kind of romantic.