6 feet apart no more

Social distancing and isolation have shown me how important touch is for us. The simple ability to receive touch and touch someone we love was so natural pre quarantine that I am sure most of us took it for granted. The simple act of holding hands and being able to kiss someone we love without the virus lurking over is a feeling that I will personally be looking forward the most after quarantine is over. Thus, I believe that the days after quarantine are going to be defined not by the experiences that we missed out on, such as going to the beach or going to Starbucks, but by the ability to finally touch and hug those we love with complete freedom.

The first thing I am going to do once this is all over is wake up super early, because it going to be a wonderful 70 degrees outside. I will meditate with extra love this day because I am completely grateful the virus is now under control and we are now slowly getting back to our normal day to day lives. What happens next is my normal every day routine. I tell Alexa to put on my playlist of choice (usually the one below)

I will dance my way to the bathroom as always. I am still working from home as my boss has us working from home as a precaution until the end of the year. However! I will call in and get the day off because I woke up with something inside of me telling me to stop everything and get a hold of this day. I go down to the kitchen and tell my roommate and her daughters I will be making delicious omelets for us and we will cook and dance like we always do on the weekends. Once we are done, we decide to all take the day off and go to the city to take the girls to central park and the Natural Museum of History for the girls to see some animals and dinosaur bones. The girls are loving it and are jumpong around, they even find some kids to talk to and they are all laughing and talking to one another about how the dinosaur bones of this fish are bigger than their dog.

Personally I will enjoy seeing the kids running around, making new friends and everyone holding hands. I really think everyone in NYC is going to be extra close after quarantine. The idea of hating to be around people in such a small space, which I myself was a victim of, is going to vanish and people are going to be holding hands, hugging, laughing and kissing without apprehension on the streets, some I hope without the usual scowl of I hate everyone here (I am talking to you Wall Street)

After we get back from NYC, I call my sister and I ask her to get my parents and herself ready because we are going out for dinner as a family. We are going to our favorite restaurant Tapas de Espana to get some delicious food on me. When I go to pick them up in my brand-new car I pull over and run over to the house to hug my sister and my parents. I hold her in my arms and look at her in the eyes and say "I missed holding you so much!" Then I am going to turn to my parents and hug them like I was a 6-year-old that lost them at the mall. Heck I'll accept it I am definitely going to shed a tear or two. On our way to the restaurant I ask them about their day and how is the family in Ecuador for which my dad always has some funny story one of how my uncle Rolando tricked one of my aunts into dressing up as something or paying a lost bet by shaving their head or something.

At the restaurant I order my favorite food from the menu, Snow Crab fingers in garlic and the Crab Stuffed Salmon in wine sauce. Side not: if you save the garlic sauce from the snow crab appetizer and pour it on the salmon it adds an extra kick to the entrée. Anyway, we go about our dinner as usual. We talk about each one of our lives, we crack jokes and my parents take pictures of their food as they always do. Afterwards, the four of us walk holding hands together on our way to my car. It is now around 8PM so I decide to call my boyfriend and I tell him that I am heading over his house because I need to see his face and kiss it all over. This makes me so immensely happy as the most I’ve gotten to touch him during this isolation is by holding hands. We can finally get together and watch a movie in his place while holding each other close and these are moments that I tell him are the happiest ever. I talk to him about my beautiful day and the importance of finally being able to touch people. I mention how crazy it was that in the past we used to disregard something as important as touch in the same way as we do the air we breathe. He just looks at me and says how you never truly know how much you need something until you can’t have it. Similar to us when we started getting to know each other.