And resulted in an engagement.
Vaccines are on the rise and masks are coming off - is it safe to talk about this touchy subject yet? Quarantine.
It's almost hard to believe that last year for months at a time, we were all in our homes with no where to go and no one to see. Every single evening consisted of playing The Sims on my tablet and drinking too much Grist House beer, all while my boyfriend was on the other couch playing online poker.
At the end of the day, I'm INCREDIBLY grateful everyone that's close to me is safe and healthy, and I am not angry by any means that this is what we had to do to stop the spread and to protect ourselves and others. But it was - weird. The human psyche isn't intended to be cooped up in one place every day, all day, without any in-person interaction with the outside world.
The only in-person interaction most of us had was with the people we lived with.
For me, that was my boyfriend. My boyfriend of four years.
Quarantine either made or broke your relationship, am I right? If you were in a relationship during quarantine, I salute you. It sure as hell wasn't easy. Maybe it helped you realize that you don't want to be with that person anymore. Or maybe you realized the exact opposite - that they're your everything. I am very happy to say that for Jason and I, it only brought us closer together.
This forced time together sparked even more deeper conversations between the two of us. We enjoyed each other's company (almost) the entire time. I barely remember ever being annoyed or angry with him. I was just so happy to be home from work and to be able to see him more.
At the time, I worked for an orthopedic surgeon as his admin assistant. I had to alternate weeks at home and weeks in the clinic so he could treat patients. But from March until June - I only worked about 20 hours a week. And half of that time I was working from home. Those hours when I was home, I separated myself and worked upstairs in our office. Sometimes I went to the back porch and had lengthy phone calls. Giving ourselves some space during the day was healthy and necessary.
June 2020 rolled around and I had to go back to the office full-time. That very first day I was back in the office, I received a "Miss You" Bitmoji text from Jason. And man, did I miss him too! "Wow - this kind of sucks!," I thought to myself. I honestly asked myself if I was pathetic for feeling that way. For missing him just cause I had to be away from him for 8 hours. But then I snapped out of that negative self-talk and reminded myself - we are in a global pandemic! I just spent three months straight with a single human being and didn't see anyone else. And I loved every second of it. This is normal to feel this way!
So - how did we not want to strangle each other the whole time?
First and foremost - we love each other. Duh Jade, what kind of advice is that? In other words, if you feel yourself being constantly annoyed or angry with your S.O., it may be time to reevaluate your relationship.
Secondly, we gave ourselves space when we could. When I worked from home, I spent a lot of the day upstairs or on the back porch. I also claimed our office space as my own so I had my own personal space, and Jason respectfully let me be so I could get my work done.
Thirdly, we still did our own thing. I'll admit, it wasn't the healthiest - but what else we were supposed to do?? Like I mentioned earlier, he had fun playing online poker & I created my own world in The Sims. We entertained ourselves the best we could without constantly needing the other person's attention.
Group FaceTime's with our own friends. These FaceTime's occurred away from the other person, so again, we could have our own space.
Gratitude. Appreciation. I just felt so grateful I had him to hunker down with and that I wasn't alone.
Fast forward to our five year anniversary in February of this year, and my sweet man got down on one knee and asked to make me his wife.
We joke and say a COVID year is like five years in a relationship, but we're also kind of serious when we say that. It put so much in perspective for us. We are very blessed to be safe & healthy, there's no doubt about that. But I feel even more blessed that we found each other. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life as Mrs. Jade Granda.
photo by: Danielle Durbin Film & Photo
