RYAN’S REGARDS: Love in the time of Corona

Valentine’s Day.

Either you revel is romcoms and bright red-ribbon-wrapped boxes, dread the very mention of the day, or just plum forget it’s a thing.

But yet, Feb. 14th is another event on the calendar that the pandemic has scrambled; one I do believe will be severely underrated in it’s COVID aftershocks.

The past eleven months have indisputably wreaked havoc on people’s love lives.

All year long, we’ve heard stories of century-old spouses dying days apart or partners being separated with glass; pictures encapsulate them looking through a window, longingly at each other. It’s enough to break even the coldest of hearts.

People are finding it a challenge to meet anyone new or go out on dates.

I’ve had friends struggle with the balance of loneliness and safety in pursuit of a little romance – we live in strange times when the most intimate moment between a couple is getting to see each other without masks on, they say.

It’s hardly a fair time for anyone right now, but singles certainly got the short end of the stick. It’s tough enough trying to date when your not staying indoors and keeping your distance from strangers. Hang in there all you folks looking for love!

Then again, divorce inquiries are apparently on the rise – not actual divorces, but inquiries on how best to go about it; as if people were stuffing that plan in their back pocket for just in case.

I don’t think couples ever anticipated spending so much uninterrupted time together, constantly cooped up in the same house… the same space… with nowhere to go…

I know little happens in between me and my girlfriend’s dinnertime reunions; much of our meals are eaten in silence because it seems we’ve said it all.

But I couldn’t have made it through this pandemic without her. Our humour and creativity have staved off boredom and loneliness, and for that I am lucky in many ways. Happy Valentine’s Day my love, and incidentally, happy seventh year anniversary.

READ MORE: Ryan’s Regards: Clearing the clutter

So let’s be honest with ourselves. What I’m trying to get at is there’s going to be a spike in cases this month.

We’re passed the point on asking people “stay home, pretty please.”

More people went home for Christmas than I think were all willing to admit and way more people are going to be shacking up after their Tinder date come Sunday.

Couples are going to be headed out for extravagant meals at wallet-walloping restaurants.

Teenagers, I assure you, are busting out of cohorts and putting the whole school in danger to meet with that one passionate person they can’t even go two classes without.

COVID has stopped a lot of things… everything really, but if there’s one place people are willing to draw that line, it’s attraction.

While penthouse nightclubs, Mexico trips, and mask-less shopping are all pretty defenceless right now, it’s tougher to slap restrictions on our more primal instincts.

I’m not saying this is the right choice to make. I’m not encouraging people to bust out of quarantine like it’s an ’80s movie and stop their favorite person at the airport to tell them how they feel – proclaiming that no amount of COVID exposure could ever prevent them from being together.

The ghost of Nora Ephron will come back to direct that in a couple years anyways, I’m sure.

I’m saying, if there is someone if your life who has been there through thick and thin this past year; someone in your life that makes your heart flutter; your anchor or your ray of hope that is getting you through COVID-19 – tell them.

In fact, give all the love you can to those around you.

It shouldn’t take a special Hallmark-crafted day to remind us to do so, but lets use it as a marker to share some positivity.

Don’t spread the virus, but safely spread the love.