As published on Mamamia, March 20, 2020 :https://www.mamamia.com.au/coronavirus-and-dating/
I’ve only been dating Jack for three and a half weeks.
Together, we’ve discussed COVID-19 mortality rates over Shiraz, compared our number of remaining toilet paper rolls and messaged about whether or not our we’ll have to work from home. There can’t be fancy dates at the theatre (closed), trips to the Melbourne Comedy Festival (cancelled), or evening MCG footy dates to rival about our favourite AFL teams.
Chances for going to parties, birthdays or other social events are also slimming, as our respective friends and families slowly embrace the new norm of social distancing. As for our own hand-touching, I feel as if we’ve quickly grown an unspoken level of trust about hygiene practises.
Perhaps in the scheme of things, lapsed dating rituals are a small price to pay.
My nana would probably have laughed about my considering of the coronavirus dating landscape, if she were still around. Not going out much? Cooking together? That’s exactly what we all did in the best of times, you privileged young Melbourne woman! She would’ve mocked me, only half-playful, with a slight shake of her head.
But if schools and workplaces are closed down, early-stage relationships will have to take a road less travelled. Maybe Jack and I will be forced to get to know each other via board games, Netflix and home-cooked lunches. Maybe we’ll eat pasta, when one of us manages to find a supermarket that has any left, and it will seem like a luxury good. Then, we can scout for toilet paper as a team. Peppermint tea, dog walks and staying in will become our norm.
“You’re overthinking it,” my sister said at dinner, after making her boyfriend scrub between his fingers in the bathroom while we waited for the burritos. “This could really be an opportunity for heaps of those rainy-day conversations with Jack. Or the types of chats you have with someone when it’s late at night and there’s nothing to do or see, when everything’s dark. That’s when you talk about the real stuff.”
I’ve only been seeing Jack for three and a half weeks. It’s Love and Dating in the Age of Corona. If seeing someone new wasn’t already a delicate minefield, it certainly is now. I’ll let you know how it goes.