December 14, 2021

My dearest,

The quarantine hour is almost over. Nearly a week has passed since my return from Bangkok. Flying colours greet me after the two requisite tests. I am safe, healthy and protected. You need not worry.

But I know you do, however I tell you not to. I know for I am the same way when it comes to you.

They say we live in a perilous time, two years of a pandemic and counting. But what time in history hasn’t been perilous in its own way? We take care of ourselves and each other however we can.

The distance, the masks, the frequent washing of hands. And quarantines, at hotels or at home, when we travel from one country to another, though we travel far less than before, understandably.

The numbers form a pattern, almost: 14 days when we returned from Auckland, seven days of home quarantine in KL, and one night when I arrived in Bangkok.

A different country, a different time, and it changes. The quarantine requirements, the isolation endured, the hours till we see each other again.

But what are days and hours when we can spend a year apart and everything feels just the same when we are reunited? We have learned that love isn’t a test but a process, one that we figure out as a team. We are partners in crime and in curiosity, a pair of pink-necked green pigeons that mate for life.

14 years of dating, 7 years of marriage, one lifetime together.

These numbers are worth waiting for. These numbers are worth counting down to. They are a blessing, and in perilous times like these (so they tell us), they are hope. And we are love.

Yours, ever and always.