I moved to Australia with my little family just weeks before a world pandemic closed the sky and "locked us in". My mum arrived to our new home in Perth just a week before lockdown. It was the best thing that could ever happen to us.
A month and a half has passed since we left Israel. After seeing each other once every couple of days, all at once it became a long distance relationship through video chats - every single day to both grandmas. Keeping Ofir in touch as much as we can.
Back then there were no quarantines, no vaccines, no COVID-19 tests. you just needed a visa and a ticket, remember those days? When Tom went to pick up Savta Tali from the airport (Savta means grandma in Hebrew) Ofir was already asleep so it was really exciting for her to wake up and see Savta there.
Because we had no previous life here, and didn't really know what it's like to actually live in Perth, the lockdown wasn't too bad for us, for mum and me it was like a long vacation together (which was quite enough at some point...). We had an extra room for Tom's studies, and mum had her own room and it made things so much easier.
Ofir liked to fall asleep listening to music on Savta's bed, I had my time to work on my own photography & design stuff while my mum took her out for morning strolls, Tom and I had some evenings alone walking to the river, playing some frisbee, and mum and I tried to have our free shopping time as well in the only stores that were open. We walked around A LOT and got to know the area we live in.
With all the love, help and the fun we had during this time, the feeling of being "stuck" in a place that isn't her home, leaving my siblings and her two dogs behind for a long period, mum decided she'll find a way to get back home to Israel.
Instead of 5 weeks mum ended up staying for 2.5 months. After a few weeks of phone calls, agents, 3 flights canceled she realised there is no easy way back and had to book a flight with no less than three, yes three(!) layovers. Perth - Sydney - Dubai - Frankfurt - Tel Aviv. Of course it didn't go smoothly at all, but eventually after a day and a half of travelling, she got home safely and went into two weeks of Israeli quarantine at home (which doesn't look anything like quarantine here in WA).
We kept mum's door shut after she left, and she was our first and last guest to occupy that room. It took Ofir a while to understand that Savta went back home, but eventually she stopped knocking on that door.
Since then we moved to a different house, we don't have a guest room now cause it wasn't really necessary this year... But with all the pain of being so far away from our family for almost two years now, I feel like we managed to escape to the best place in the world to get "stuck" in during a world pandemic.
Are you planning any special reunion with a loved one soon?
I'd love to capture some moments of you together.
Maayana Photography
0407051664