Last week I sat pondering heading into another week of lockdown and I gotta say, it was not a joyful, excited, ‘can’t wait for Monday’ kind of moment. My three kids and I have been living, like most of NSW, VIC and other states, in close quarters for 10 weeks now and by close, I mean in each other’s pockets.
It reminded me of when they were much younger, and we were living in Tokyo and the aftermath of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami disaster. The earthquake was completely different of course, it was a time of great tragedy and sadness. Japan’s largest city went from an incredibly vibrant, loud, neon lit city to a virtual ghost town. Lights were turned off, including the Disneyland lights, supermarkets ran without their constant loud and welcoming ‘Irasshaimase’ announcements. Shortages of food and electricity were normal. People died. Whole families were wiped out. Lives were destroyed. It was scary.
What is the same is the close proximity to my babies. Just like that time when we had no control of what was happening in the city around us, we spent a lot of time in each other’s pockets. It was a much scarier time because the aftershocks from ‘the big one’ just kept coming. Not ten minutes went by without another aftershock. The kids were either at school – Japanese schools were back in on the Monday, the earthquake was on the Friday – or they were attached to me. Literally attached.
The kids were so scared back then and there was little I could do to help. I mean mother nature can be a complete bitch and she does what she wants. What I could do was provide some joy, some safety and lots of love. I could look after them and make sure that they were doing OK. I could make sure that we were laughing, sharing fun times and getting through. One of their most favourite things during this time was having ‘Breakfast for Dinner’. Yep, I know. It was a BIG deal for them to have pancakes for dinner.
This weekend we resurrected this little tradition. They are young adults now but you know what? ‘Breakfast for Dinner’ is still a winner in this house. It was an even bigger winner for me thanks to Uber Eats and Max Brenner. This weekend we had waffles, chocolate and fruit for dinner. It made us laugh and smile, remember difficult times and be safe in the knowledge that together, we can do this.
We can’t control what is happening in the world around us right now but we can laugh, love and look after each other. There is something decadent about having this much time given to us to be with the people we care most about. There is also a little decadence in ‘Breakfast for Dinner’.
Check out other articles Cassie has written here.