One Fine Morning...

Saturday afternoon we decided we needed a small adventure. We packed up the car with our two inflatable paddle boards, a couple buckets and shovels, some snacks and water bottles, and drove thirty minutes to the beach. It was a busy Saturday and we only had an hour or two to spare; additionally, current restrictions allow for just groups of two, so that meant we had to do our our best to stay on our own. When we arrived at the little patch of beach, we discovered, to our delight, that we were the only ones around. Trent hurried to blow up the paddle board, while Asher and Lillian took to the sand, building a castle and pausing intermittently to dance in the waves on the shore. In no time flat Trent had filled the paddle board and was off in the waves, his single profile silhouetted against the literal ocean full of shipping vessels parked just off the greenish waters of East Coast Park. Eventually the pull of the water and Trent's paddle board were too tempting to Lillian and she w...

Last Saturday we were out running errands and simultaneously tuned in to hear the live address from Singapore's Prime Minister. With more than 83% of the country fully vaccinated against Covid-19, we had hopes that he would announce--finally--some lightening of restrictions. I held my iphone, plugged into our car's stereo system, as Trent navigated the busy streets near Orchard Road, finally pulling into a parking lot as we felt we couldn't even run our errands any more, so keenly we wanted and hoped for some semblance of good news. I'll long remember the feeling of our hopes being dashed with every word he spoke. Lillian continued to gasp in the back seat. Trent, always stalwart and optimistic, put his face in his hands and rubbed his eyebrows. I, whose patience and tolerance has most obviously waned in the past several months, muttered mean things under my breath. All in all, it was pretty much the most depressing speech we've heard with no changes announced but r...

When people talk about what has been going on in our world these past several months, I hear them say things like "unprecedented." And it's true--what we are experiencing globally is truly unprecedented in my life time, and my children's lifetime, and maybe even my parents' lifetimes. Nevertheless, saying that this is unprecedented doesn't actually help much except to acknowledge that none of us has been down this road before and as keenly as we all want it to end, as hopeful as we are that it will end eventually , no one knows when or how we'll go back to normal.  That's another word we hear a lot. Normal.  It's been so long that I am beginning to wonder what did normal even feel like? We've been in this pandemic and under restrictions for so long now that it's hard to remember that there was a time where we went outside without masks on, that we didn't think about how many people we gathered with, or who we could hug or shake hands w...

On Monday, April 19, my sweet mom passed away. I'm still not used to writing that sentence; don't know when I will be, if ever, used to saying those words or grow accustomed to her absence. Even as we made all the preparations for her funeral this week (I participated virtually), I kept looking for her, sure that any moment she'd come walking into the living room at Mark's house. The hardest part of all of this is that she really is just--gone.  Last night at midnight Singapore time was my mom's funeral. I participated virtually. I thought it might be fitting to post my remarks, mostly just so I have them stored in a place where I can remember what I said and how I've been feeling in the time since her passing.

I thought I'd highlight a little of what life is like for us here in Singapore in the midst of the pandemic. It might make me smile in ten years to remember all of this. Or it might be interesting for someone in my family reading this decades from now. Or, maybe most of all, the act of writing it will be cathartic in some way as the weight of this pandemic seems to be compounding on my shoulders. In no particular order, here are some of the features of life as an Expat in Singapore in the Covid 19 Pandemic: 1. The masks. Oh the masks. Who would have thought they'd become such a political thing? They are, anyway, in the United States. Masks aren't a big deal here in Singapore; or, maybe it would be better to say, the decision to wear/not wear a mask isn't a big deal. That's because there is no decision or discussion on the matter. The government has mandated that we wear them when we are in public. Period. End. Don't wear it and face a huge fine and, if you'r...

I've been thinking lately about how much we've adjusted and learned in ten months' time.  When we first arrived in Singapore, it was amazing to us how much time and energy we expended in just completing the tiniest tasks. Getting our family fed every day became a challenge: where was the grocery store? What could we buy there? What could we reasonably make (that was remotely palatable) with just a frying pan, a knife, and a spatula (turns out, we learned, quite a lot!). But wait-- recipes that we were used to often required buying imported "Western" food, and that came at a premium. Sometimes the local grocery store had chicken. Sometimes it didn't. Other times there was pork, but not usually the cut or style to which we were accustomed. Maybe it would just be better to eat out? But where? We found a grocery store close by, but the only way to get there was to walk. 15 minutes one way in 100+ degree heat with high humidity: ok, no problem, but...we were consta...