THE MONTH OF LOVE

 January has been a difficult month for me. My in-laws, who paid us a visit during Christmas, left on the 6th. I was suddenly put on back-to-back night shifts, under supervision, and heavily criticised and broken at the end of the month. I had a week of annual leave, and we attended the immigration office and came back empty-handed and irritated. We tried to make a vacation out of the Dublin trip and booked a fancy hotel, but it didn’t turn out as we had expected. I was hoping to go and visit a Persian restaurant and eat kebabs, flat bread, and Persian tea, but the visit was cancelled due to poor mood and bad weather. Work has been draining me, adjusting to the new demographic of patients, the new system, and constantly being supervised and on edge is a recipe for burnout. The negative political news from back home was the cherry on top to make this cold and dark January more and more miserable. The last blow to my mental health was my Cuban friend doctor showing up for her job in ED, after long research and chats with me since last year, and abruptly leaving after three weeks of work. I can not believe the stress I went through to find her an accommodation and help her out. 

February is the month of love and Valentine's Day. The second of February 2020 was our engagement anniversary. It was a beautiful day, and a complete surprise when he gave me the ring while I was on labour ward duty on a Sunday. We were truly in love, and what pushed him to propose was losing his aunt at the end of January. It was the year of Covid-19 pandemic, and there was no room for fussing and throwing big engagement parties. Social media makes things easy; you post a picture and a caption, and all your friends and family will know that you are engaged. We had a small court wedding and dinner later in September. Once you are in a committed relationship and have a child, things change from date night and excitement to duty. just making it from day to day. There is love everywhere, every day. The romantic love, the love of parents, and the most special thing is friendships. Our friends do not love us because they are related to us, like our parents and siblings; they are there because they want to be with us. I feel that is a genuine love. 

We had some good family time on Valentine’s weekend, with my girl and daddy. I met another South African doctor from ED for a long-awaited coffee break. It was my first time meeting someone for coffee in Ireland, and I was very excited; I felt like I was going on a first date! She was lovely, and we both knew why we left South Africa, due to its poor health infrastructure and poor job opportunities.  We knew that settling in Ireland had not been easy, leaving our family and friends behind, and adjusting to a new country is a huge challenge. There is always room to find love in a foreign land, to give love and kindness, and feel connected. This is how I felt when I met my Lebanese and Serbian friends in South Africa, and we connected instantly. This is what the world needs right now: for the people to come together regardless of their race and colour, and it was beautiful to watch Bad Bunny perform in the NFL halftime show, and remind us of all the countries there in the American continent, encourage love and togetherness.