Lockdown Love
Exactly 12 months ago Francesco and I went into lockdown.
Finally together without any distractions.
My mind slowed down, his time freed up.
Each morning we’d walk our dogs on a new route, our lockdown route, we quickly learned to enjoy.
Not knowing just how long we’d be confined to our home and one another this way, we simply became present to each day.
In the morning we’d cook together, sometimes using his grandmother’s recipes, I noticed he was enjoying the kitchen again.
In the afternoons we’d do some work, serving our clients around the world.
By 6:00 pm and after a second dog walk we’d head to “Bar Jardin.”
This was basically two chairs in our garden, facing the sunset, with a little table and a music amplifier.
Our dogs would join us there.
Fran would have a gin and I’d enjoy a glass of wine.
We loved our daily aperitivo time.
Sometimes we’d just sit in silence listening to music enjoying the warmth of the sun, other times we’d call Fran’s family on FaceTime and laugh with them in that usual light-hearted Italian way.
Many times we’d talk about our plans for the future, including our wedding and whatever news had occurred that day.
It was a very simple routine.
The beauty of having those 9.5 weeks together of pure uninterrupted time…. No big social calendar, no driving to the family at the weekend, no bike rides, no shopping trips and zero travel, meant that we REMEMBERED the truth of our relationship.
Pure love and well-being.
We lived in that feeling of well-being and we had the space to FEEL it again.
As we both fell out of our head and the usual distractions of the day, we both fell into love in a deeper way.
A kind of…”Oh yes, I remember this, this is who we are.”
So often we can think our relationship has hit the rocks or come to an end, we can’t see a way forward or we feel hopeless, when the truth is we’re back in our busy heads!
Life’s gotten fast again.
We’re analyzing or worrying or comparing to who else we could have instead.
All of this noise robs us of the love that’s ever-present, always there.
It’s less about the “right partner” and all about being in our right mind.
For when you’re both in your right mind, you’ll discover LOVE LIVES THERE. ❤️