Covid Diaries: Love in the time of Covid

Day 3 - Dirty Window

Rose woke to the sun streaming in through the window. Her entire body ached and she craved for a good stretch and a walk outside. She leaned over and pushed the assist button. Her nurse, Sandy walked in soon after, "How can I help, Rose?"

When Rose first arrived at the nursing home, she felt abandoned. There wasn't much living to do here. There was only so much bingo or scrabble one can enjoy playing. Her son, John came to visit less and less often and now with Covid in the picture, she hadn't seen him in months. She thought about her husband, Trevor and the times they had living in Italy. She wondered what he'd say now if he could see her. She would do anything to visit Italy, have some fresh pasta, topped with crisp basil and a glass of limoncello. The window looked especially blurry today, could there be more fingerprints than yesterday?

"Rose, can you help me up? I think I'd like to take a walk."

"I'm sorry Rose, you know you can't leave the room until we have this situation under control, how about I grab you some magazines?"

"Try and grab me some travel books, Sandy."

As Sandy rushed off, she knew it would be hours before she'd have something to read. She picked up her cell and called her daughter.

"Mom, how are you doing?", Alexis responded.

"My bones feel brittle, I really need a walk, they won't let us leave our room though", Rose sighed.

"Just hang in mom, this will be over soon", Alexis said trying to sound convincing. "Shall we come by and visit outside your room?"

Fortunately, Rose's room was on the ground floor and her family could still visit even if it was through the window. "Well, I suppose so, if you can, would be lovely to see you."

As she hung up the phone, Rose thought to herself what she could possibly do with the day ahead. She looked at her wall, a picture of Alexis and her grandson beamed back at her. There were no pictures of Trevor on the wall. She couldn't bear his judgement on a daily basis. As she rose and walked around her room, she imagined the Amalfi coastline, the menacing cliffs overlooking the sea.

After lunch in her room, she looked up from her bed and saw her daughter and grandson had arrived and were waving outside her window. The dirty window made their appearance hard to make out. Rose put on her glasses, smiled and waved back. She hoped tomorrow she could take a walk and hold her grandson's hand. She wished Trevor could see how tall his grandson had grown.