Weekly meets and stolen kisses
Shortly before lockdown, my boyfriend and I hunkered down in his room in his parents house and rode out two weeks of flu. We're still not sure it was coronavirus or not - I vaguely remember surviving on a few digestive biscuits a day and going to sleep at 7pm like a woman 4 times my age.
I was going to stay at this to enjoy a new game coming out, as I had done back in November, but the spectre of lockdown made me scurry home the moment I had the box in my hands, barely ten minutes drive away. Ten minutes had never felt so far away until faced with the prospect of not seeing him every week.
We survived by playing games together, chatting on Discord and having hours long phone calls, but of course it wasn't the same. It took us three months to decide maybe it was ok to meet up outside, in the first days of June. My mum said I could have half an hour, and when he learned of that we both cried over the phone and fumed about lockdown.
The first time I saw him down by the river, we took a little stroll away, promising to maintain that 2 metre distance, which lasted about 10 seconds before we embraced. We walked hand in hand, stealing kisses and other small salacious activities when we couldn't see anyone else. That first meeting, we saw a slow-worm, which made me even more excited because I'd never seen one before and I'm a big nature nerd.
The second week we met, we walked down to the river bank on a glorious sunny day, and he popped the question, unable to hang on longer after he got the ring. I said yes, obviously. Before I met him, I didn't think I'd find someone who was not only my best friend, but understood everything about me.
Of course, an hour down by the river wasn't enough to celebrate, so we trudged back home. Then Mark Drakeford eventually caught up with the rest of the UK and said homes in Wales could eventually bubble up. For me, it made sense to choose his home - my family doesn't have any family nearby, but he couldn't just up and choose my home. Being in a family of seven complicates things like that.
Then finally, a month after we got engaged, he was able to come to my home and we could spend the whole day together. Those few hours flew by, because of course they did, but for the first time since lockdown, I've felt happy, knowing that I can see my fiance every week and spend as long as I want with him.