[Dutch Lock Down Day One Hundred Forty Two]
I still want to keep track of how many days we’ve been on lockdown / maintaining distance, even if it’s only as a sub title, but I also recognise that it’s difficult to know what a post is about when the titles are just numbers.
Speaking of numbers, the COVID numbers are creeping back up here in the Netherlands, especially in the big cities in the center of the country – Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht.
But it’s kinda chill way up north where we live.
Us northerners weren’t ones to hang out or get close anyway, though.
But first the news:
- Rotterdam mayor closes four cafes and bars for breaking coronavirus rules
- Four Amsterdam Students Test Positive For COVID-19; Initiation Events Halted
- MANY SINTERKLAAS PARTIES CANCELED OVER CORONAVIRUS
There are even some very touristy / highly traffic’d places in Amsterdam and Rotterdam that require face masks. In addition to public transportation which has required masks ever since… April? May?
I’ve lost track.
But what I haven’t lost track of is that today is my partner’s FORTY SECOND BIRTHDAY!! !
Hi, P!
I’ve known this kickass man for LITERALLY half of his life.
We met back in 1999 when his girlfriend invited my boyfriend over for drinks.
While it sounds super naughty when I say it that way, it is the absolute truth, but way more innocent than it sounds – she knew my parter and I were new to town, so she invited the two of us over to hang with her and P and other people at their apartment.
Pontus and I hit it off from the start and while we wouldn’t date for another three years, we dated other people, lived together, WORKED together, and totally and thoroughly thought we would be Just Friends forever.
And then something switched and I was incredibly attracted to him and instead of telling him in person or over the phone, I messaged him (probably on AIM) over the computer to say I LIKE liked him.
And he didn’t reply.
For five whole minutes.
And then he said something like, “Cool. Can we talk about this in about three hours after I’m finished taking my final final of undergrad, please?”
Psh.
Priorities, Leander.
#AMIRITE
So I left him alone and he took his final final and graduated with honours and we went on our first date and sex was wonderful and I asked him to marry me immediately.
He LITERALLY ran away.
Not really.
(Really.)
So I waited and we kept dating and I asked him again six months later and he said yes and we got married six months after that and everyone thought we were pregnant, but no, we just KNEW.
Some of us just knew before others.
We moved to another house, then another state, then another country and we’ve finished school and gotten fancy jobs and had three kids and bought a house and sold it and bought another house and sold it and bought another house and sex is still wonderful.
And he’s still my best friend.
This year I wanted his birthday to be extra super special cause it’s the forty second and everyone knows that 42 is extra super special; I planned on renting a large house or a compound in southern Sweden for six or eight weeks and inviting all our friends and family to come visit for as long as they like and it was just going to be six to eight weeks of reunions and escapades and work – because P and I both love to work, too.
But COVID.
And even now we don’t want to risk going out to a restaurant or ordering a cake or DOING something, so we’re chilling at home. While the big plans to live in Sweden for a bit and celebrate will have to wait a year or two, this year, it’s super awesome to celebrate reaching the magical forty two and all the phenomenal time we’ve had together.
I love you, Pontus.
Happy birthday.