"It's mid March 2020 and we were driving to Dingli as the first cases of Covid-19 in Malta were announced. It's my friend Max's birthday and there's the kids, dog and Canadian AuPair, Adriana, in the car asides from Henry. It was a glorious day spent next to the pool with three good friends and a new face from England. As the day wore on, a lockdown was announced. Our host invited us to stay on. We ordered groceries to be delivered and cooked and for weeks we listened to music around bonfires late into the night. It was extraordinary. But eventually I missed my house and we went home.
I am an extrovert. People give me energy. I missed a room full of people so much it hurt. I cannot understand the quest of preserving life for life's sake. A life without friends, without culture, without live music, without the intensity of inspiration which is Valletta did not make sense. I was worried I would have to sack my staff, my team, my life. I never imagined I would be running my business with no income coming in. By mid-April I could not get out of bed. I had fewer and fewer showers. I mused and ruminated philosophically. I bought the first personal laptop I've had in years. I consolidated an idea I had been working on and started a new company. I got my lawyer, Thea, to draft non disclosure, and production contracts and apply for trade marks and sorted out intellectual property rights matters. I commissioned a photo shoot at home and built a website on Wix.
En famille: Leila, Henry, Joanna and Peppi
My birthday wish was to be able to return to the clinic. I realized how much I love my work... I sculpt real life faces. I effect people's confidence. I help improve their lives. And I am so honoured with their trust. I missed that. I wanted to go back to doing it. And by end May, days after my 39th birthday, we were able to reopen.
May and June were record months at work. We worked double time and at first I thought I wouldn't be able to have a summer vacation to spend with my kids but then I said to myself - you know what... if this pandemic is teaching me anything, it is to never miss a moment. Peppi and Leila had spent months sitting in front of a screen. We chartered a boat and sailed for weeks around Sardinia and Corsica. In The Madalene archipelago, Peppi said... "Mama the sea is like a swimming pool. " I replied: "No Peppi, it is swimming pools which are like Sardinia."
Even though our holiday was covid friendly - and the islands were almost empty, and the restaurants as well, and even though we had hope, autumn took a turn for the worse. I was working hard, but we were essentially locked inside again. I was sitting on a friend's sofa in November dreaming of somewhere open, and warm to visit for Christmas. A friend said Costa Rica was open. I booked there and then, and after a tonne of paper work and a dozen sticks poked down our nose, we landed in paradise. Wow. Unspoiled rain forests meeting tourquoise sea. Surfing lessons. Wild water rafting. The resort all to ourselves to explore deserted islands. I was starting to think it's not too bad that not very many persons were travelling.
Horse riding in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
While there, in January, the rules changed. We decided to spend the two week mandatory quarantine in Henry's homeland - the Faroe Islands. The rules there stated that you can roam the snow-covered, wild landscape while on quarantine - as long as you didn't go to public spaces or meet people. So we hiked and the children sleighed on the snow while we sipped mulled wine well into January. I read a lot. Hard work pays off.
The rest of the Winter and Spring were horrible. My 40th birthday loomed, and I worked 12 hour days every day. Our treatments were giving people boosts and were in high demand as people were forced to stare at their faces all day on zoom meetings. People wanted to feel beautiful. They could feel little of anything else. There were no distractions. I had given myself a month off for my birthday - a decision made pre covid, and when my plans to revisit New York City and then have a party disintegrated, I booked a one way ticket to Rome and spent three weeks floating around Italy alone, drinking Spritz in every glorious, empty piazza and enjoying the masterpieces up close. I am sure I will never again be alone with the Venere of Botticelli in Florence or spend two hours reading Hadrian's memoirs in total privacy with my toes in the Trevi Fountain.
By June, restrictions and curfews started being lifted as if by magic, following my trip and my way back home. I enjoyed some birthday greetings in tiny weeny groups at home and then back to 12 hour days with a smile on my face. The response to vaccinations in Malta was fantastic. Thank you for believing in Science and not letting fear and selfishness reign. I loved watching my kids grow in this period. I learnt how to appreciate one on one time with friends better. I love my planet even more."
This series is conceived and edited by Marie Benoît who contributes her own Diary occasionally. [email protected]