I have a confession about last night. I did something that I haven’t done in a very long time that I must admit, I was a bit nervous about. It was a bit daring, a bit adventurous, a bit out of the norm. But I made the decision to just go for it and I have to say it was AMAZING. I went out to dinner.
Pre-Covid this obviously would not have been such a big deal. Pre Covid, I did not go out to dinner a lot, maybe one or two nights per week, and it was usually a where should we go to dinner debate followed by a decent meal out. Sometimes we would meet another couple, drag the family, or just a date night, but no matter who we were with it was just another night out. Covid changed that.
Three months ago, my family should have been spread out over different countries… not sequestered under one roof. For three months, we met in the kitchen for breakfast, passed one another for lunch and ate dinner every day around the kitchen table. I must say, it is the silver lining, if there can be one, in this horrible pandemic. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather have gone about life as normal and not had so much ripped from my children’s lives…but this time together as a family is a gift and hopefully something our kids will one day tell their kids…or use in defense…When I was your age I ate dinner with my parents every night.
Now here we are in phase 2 and restaurants are starting to open. Granted its outdoor only, paper disposable menus, sanitizers on the table, masks on the servers and us when not 6 feet away, but it is out. We are going out to dinner kids. And I say kids when they are really all adults. Usually this call would be met by groans and complaints, not this time…well to be fair my conservative son complained. My girls, you would have thought they were invited to the Prince’s Ball. We did things we haven’t done in a long time, our hair, makeup, wore jeans.. lucky for me I found a pair that barely fit. We were giddy, giggling and ecstatic.
The restaurant was thrilled to have us as we bubbled in and kvelled over all of the offerings. We ate outside on a warm evening on the patio of the Bridgehampton Inn. We ordered wine, cocktails, lots of appetizers… why choose, let’s have them all. We ate, we drank, we laughed and even ordered dessert. It was a perfect evening except for the aching bellies on the way home.
When home I couldn’t help but think about what else we have gained from this Covid experience. Everyone asks will things go back to normal; will people be afraid; will we ever enjoy ourselves again. The answer is YES and at first it will be better. It will be with the giddy excitement of everything you get to do that is special for the first time. How fun and amazing is that feeling. The sad thing is we will eventually go back to life as normal…. And how sad not to enjoy the simple pleasures like a meal out with the family as the most precious thing in the world.