Welcome to the Great Adjustment. It’s a timid, new world.
When my husband and i took the decision to accept employment in Doha, working on the FIFA World Cup, it was still the pre-COVID 19 era. At least as far as any of us knew. J went ahead and i stayed back in the US until the onerous task of preparing our two dogs for import was accomplished. By the time i flew in, i knew the act of getting to J could life threatening in itself. In consult with family and friends, we had all decided i should make a go of it. More on the trip later.
I got off the plane in Doha on 15 March 2020. A long-awaited reunion with J and the puppies. Within 2 hours of clearing customs and claiming luggage, the announcement came that flights out would cease in a few days. The world was closing in around us. All of us.
My father in New Jersey had just begun chemoradiation therapy. I had planned to go help care for him in a few weeks, after setting up our new flat in Doha. Things had changed and were about to change more than we had dreamed. I had made it. ‘Hard to know what that would mean.
So i’m here. In Doha. In Qatar. In Quarantine.
Isn’t it weird to be starting a life (or trying to) when everything is ending?
“That’s what humans do,” says J. “We find a way. It’s cold? Let me find some clothes. It’s hot, let me build shed or a system to cool. I’m hungry? Let me kill something.”
Like ants, i thought. We find a way. Like ants in the sand.
The tiniest things have become profound.