Editor’s letter
As I think about what has transpired across the country in the past month, my thoughts go immediately to Victoria. To the poor souls who, as I write this, are experiencing the uncertainty and upset of another lockdown. As a nation we have been fortunate in our path through this pandemic, but our friends in Melbourne can be excused for feeling not quite as blessed as the rest of us.
For my family it is the international border closures that continue to be the toughest challenge. Last week my husband, Tom, and I stayed up until midnight to Zoom into his sister’s wedding in England. With restrictions around numbers for indoor gatherings still in place there, it was an intimate affair with only their nearest and dearest in attendance. In some ways this created an especially poignant and personal ceremony. Each guest shared insights on the couple and blessed the rings as they were passed around the group. I know this only made not being there in person even more difficult for Tom, who is incredibly close to his sisters. It didn’t help that we were often treated with a close-up of someone’s behind filling our screen rather than an unobstructed view of the beaming bride and her partner, or that we were toasting the speeches with cold mugs of tea rather than glasses of bubbly!
Of course, there have been many, many people who have felt this isolation far more acutely then we have. People who didn’t have any family or friends nearby for comfort. It is with them in mind that Mea Campbell started the Letterbox Project, which connects people across the country as penpals in an effort to ease loneliness (page 96). Her dedication to the cause, and the heartwarming tales of the project’s success stories, will warm even the chilliest of hearts, and prompted me to put pen to paper for my family across the world.
For anyone currently in lockdown, or missing loved ones overseas, our thoughts are with you.