Day 74

The upside of lockdown is all the extra family time. 

Today the restrictions relaxed in Cayman. Families went to church. Extended families met in groups of no more than 6. Curfew is extended until 10pm. From our deck we can see a lot of activity on the water, catamarans, sail boats, kayaks, jet skis presumably with groups from the same household. A lot of people are excited about the reopening of restaurants and bars, and the allowance to go leisure boating . We are reopening our beach restaurant and cafe the following Saturday, after all our team complete the test, and supply the good news of a negative result.

One of our neighbours contacts me, she now has a houseful, while her daughter has moved in to get help with the grandchildren. While parents of young children are pulling their hair out, working from home and waiting for schools to reopen so that that they can catch a break, parents of teenagers meanwhile cannot believe their luck. 

This morning B and I had a 3-hour conversation, uninterrupted, because D was doing odd jobs about the house and A was busy attending to her FatCat who needs 24-7 adoration, we are told. Three-hour-conversations are unusual for many teenagers, but especially rare for my introverted man-of-few-words son, B. D attributes this morning’s anomaly to the two lattes B has drunk, but I like to think it is because B has just reached the early days of adulthood, and has had a transformation, like the child in Roald Dahl’s book ‘Zagazoo’ who morphs from strange hairy creature into young man with perfect manners overnight. If you’ve read the book, you’ll then know that this is the stage where the parents turn into old pelicans with clacking beaks, so I had better keep my eye out for that creeping up on D and me.

Later in the afternoon, A and I embark on another mother-daughter shopping spree, this time in a different online store, where I learn that online bargains are easy to find if you know where to look – which A does, and I don’t. A bikini for $9? Who knew brick-and-mortar retail shops were, in comparison, so overpriced? Apparently everyone, except me, according to A. I could almost get into shopping again at these prices. Almost.

While A chooses unsuitably skimpy bikinis and tiny crop tops for her cart, it occurs to me that parents of teenage girls, all around the world, must be sleeping better at night knowing their beautiful daughters are home, safe and banned from late night parties. Best of all it, this not the parent’s fault. 

On my evening bike ride, I pass a family driving their SUV through the scrub, with a black Labrador keeping up alongside, and young children up ahead on their bikes. That’s one way to do the family dog walk, I think.

On our own, slower, less complicated, dog walk, we wave at A and her friend from the shore. The girls are paddle boarding, and stop for a chat, while trying to keep their boards 6 feet apart using the oars.

Dinner is early because online school starts early again tomorrow. A and B are in bed, and I give them both a little foot rub and a kiss good night. It’s heaven having them home during lockdown, for 24-7 adoration.