Downtown Escapes

“The mandatory isolation, despite all it’s taken from us so far (both of our jobs, Travis’ impending graduation ceremony, our collective sanity), has brought us closer in ways I didn’t expect. Both of us worked extremely challenging schedules prior to this, generally teetering on the edge of burnout, and found it hard to make room for all of the quality time we wanted to spend together. Our eternal mantra was, “When we’re done with all of our obligations, we’ll take a monthlong vacation.”, even though it seemed that the moment was perpetually postponed for one reason or another. 

 Over this past month, we’ve managed to cook together daily, and always have a nice dinner to enjoy together, often followed by a board game or several murder documentaries. We have time and renewed energy to invest in ourselves and each other, which has brought us closer - we’re generally up til 5 am talking about everything under the sun, and have to force ourselves to go to sleep.

 It’s not just that I’m able to spend time with my favorite human every day, but that this particular set of circumstances uniquely helps us to speak more candidly, to be vulnerable with those we hold dearest, and to be grateful for having the opportunity to do so outside of our normal routines.

I don’t know what the future will look like when this is all over, but I can’t help but feel lucky to have him by my side through every step of this challenge.”

Diana Danaila, Beverage Director @barfrancadtla