Real deep

It felt like my life completely fell apart during lockdown. I was laid off twice in the span of four months. I had entered into a relationship with someone who at the time seemed perfect…one of those "we met during lockdown and we basically moved in together and we're so in love" relationships. Sadly, it was not to last and while we were making plans for the future together, we broke up suddenly and I was devastated. Stressed, heartbroken and struggling financially, I left the city and my community and moved back to my hometown to figure some things out. 

The next six months were some of the hardest of my life. I was living alone back in my hometown near my family, job searching like crazy and getting rejected left and right. I felt like I had tried so hard to keep everything together, but it didn't matter. Nothing had worked out the way I wanted it to. During this intensely lonely and frustrating time, I rekindled friendships that had become distant before the pandemic. I started weekly virtual happy hours with my best friend from high school who had moved away some years before. As life slowed down for the both us, we turned toward each other. She came to visit. I went to spend a week with her for my birthday. We became such a huge part of each others lives, brainstorming about our futures and making up for lost time. My other long-time friend moved back to our hometown around the same time as me, experiencing similar losses and changes as I had. We were both working remotely and from home. To get each other out of the house during the winter, we would meet up at various coffee shops once a week to work together, mostly to hold each other accountable but also to keep each other company. Being in the same place at the same time, we have become each others support system. We have struggled together and yet have shared so much joy along the way.

I used to think my lockdown love story ended last summer, but what I didn't know then is that I would have bigger, more important ones. My first story was a shallow, temporary one, but my later ones are the real, deep love stories that last even through the darkest of times. The true love of my friends is what has gotten me through this shitty year and I could not feel luckier for the amazing community of people I have accumilated in my life. With them by my side, I know I can get through anything.