Genealife in lockdown - Robbed

Genimate Alex Daw over at the Family Tree Frog blog has challenged fellow geneabloggers to write about their lock down experiences in a series of blog posts on Sundays during National Family History Month in Australia.

See what Alex has to say about the challenge here:
https://familytreefrog.blogspot.com/2021/07/genealife-in-lockdown-nfhm-blogging.html

This is my fifth and final post for the challenge.

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In last week's post I wrote that I was both physically and emotionally grounded, I neglected to say that I am frustrated. I am angry with Covid19 that has robbed me of nearly two precious years of my life. I have a lot of mileage on my clock and I want to make full use of the time I have left. Covid19 has robbed me of many opportunities to share in the lives of those near and dear to me and to fully enjoy my twilight years with my dear husband.

Adding to my frustration are the actions of a minority of our fellow citizens. During lockdown these fools, because of their selfishness and/or stupidity, flout the rules that are in place to keep us safe and progress towards coming out of lockdown. While protesting about their lack of freedom they are robbing those of us in the majority of our freedoms. These thieves are a blight on our society.

Angry and Frustrated

Meanwhile I am cruising along in the cosy and comfortable environment of my home prison doing some of the things I always do. 

Pleased my prison is more Hilton than the Hanoi Hilton (pictured)

The beauty of this situation is that I have extra time on my hands. I have been reviewing genealogy research done years ago, chasing down DNA connections, learning Airtable, updating my personal blog and generally organising my Geneastuff. And then there is Zoom!

Geneastuff

I didn't realise how busy my pre-Covid life was until I started tidying up my digital photo albums and adding meta-data to the photos that record family activities.  I spent a lot of time with family. With 21 close family members there are always plenty of occasions to celebrate birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day.  I was a busy old girl.

We managed a 2021 Easter Hunt in between Lockdowns

While I enjoy spending time in my beautiful home environment I am missing out on many opportunities to travel. I feel that I am just marking time until Mr GeniAus and I can spread our wings and leave our cosy nest. How we will ever manage to empty our bucket list while we are still healthy enough to travel far and wide?  While I enjoy the virtual travels in my daily Facebook memories I still have a bad case of itchy feet.  I am grateful that Covid gave me time to recover from my ankle surgery in January last year. My surgeon told me it would take 18 months for my foot to recover from that trauma  - well that time's up and I'm ready to get moving.

My ugly tourist sandals want to come out of retirement

Wearing my optimist hat I see a few more months of pain and marking time followed by a slow return to the new normal. Later in 2022 I can see Mr GeniAus and I on the tarmac in Sydney settled in a Qantas jet as we toast our next adventure.

Ready for takeoff

Cheers to Alex and the fellow genies who have shared their thoughts and stories in this challenge.