In this episode, let’s talk about how to be a bubble buddy in the pandemic or any kind of wild and crazy situation that happens in your life. Now we probably need to explain a little bit for everyone outside of New Zealand. What the bubble buddy or what is a bubble, because not everybody uses the bubble term. Alright, so what’s a bubble buddy? Well, here in New Zealand we are in lockdown level four, which means you need to stay at home. You’re supposed to stay at home and you can go for a walk or a run or a bike ride around the block or you know, just stay close. You’re not allowed to get into the car. You can go to emergencies, essential services, like if you’ve got to go to the doctor or if you’ve got to go get food, but essentially that’s about it. And you’re supposed to stay in your bubble. Your bubble is the people that you’re living with.

So Michael and I have been in our bubble now for how long? A few weeks, and we’re still alive. We want to talk about being bubble buddies and respecting your bubble. And also, because this won’t be the only time this happens to any of us in our lives. I mean, there’ll be situations where we might just have to be all together for whatever reason, and we’re in close quarters and we have to respect those close quarters and, so having said that word, what do you think about the word RESPECT?

R E S P E C T; What does respect mean to you, honey?

To me,understanding the fact that it’s only natural as us human beings, when we’re in close quarters things happen and you might say the wrong thing, it could go the wrong way. It’s just respecting everybody’s feelings and understanding that everybody’s got pressure going on. It’s not just you as an individual, everybody’s feeling kind of strange and weird and out of sorts and just not being able to do what they would normally do. So it’s just respecting that it’s not just me, but it’s you or whoever’s in your bubble. And giving that person the respect to know that, okay, that was pretty harsh, but it happens. And then also, the biggie with that is then when you do make a mistake, just come back and admit it and say, Hey, I’m sorry.

Circle back, circle back and say, I’m re-correcting. Forgive me. You know, it’s okay to, I’m sorry. It’s actually very manly and very womanly and, and very beautiful to be able to say I am sorry and mean it too.

Because the pandemic that we’re in right now, we get a lot of deliveries. Our food comes delivered and in plastic and in cardboard boxes. And so poor Michael, I am a trained medical doctor. I’ve been in the medical profession for a long time. And so I just assume everybody knows what’s contaminated and what’s not contaminated. So poor Michael, he gets the delivery of vegetables. And so the cardboard box came to the front door and the virus can stay on cardboard for up to 24 hours. We had gloves and masks ready.

I said Babe, do you want to go get the vegetables out of the box? And he said yeah. And I said, okay, remember you’re going to remember the gloves, right? So, and he did really good. He went out, he brought a platter out, you know he was going to put the vegetables onto the plate. Well, he had both gloves on and he had cut the box open and with his dirty gloves, he touched the cardboard.

He was going into the vegetables. I said, what are you, you need one dirty and one clean hand, take one glove off and make it clean. You know, I was just, I don’t know what, I went back into my first year medical training, I felt like I was back in the hospital speaking to 1st year med student, and it was coming out of me and he started shaking and our neighbors were outside and they could see that, we had just gotten a delivery and they were, wow, what are you getting? What are you getting? But when they saw that, I was like reprimanding my poor, beautiful husband, they all ran.

Okay, so one hand’s clean, you know, take off the glove. And that’s the cleaner. The bottom line is. I just was like, okay, he’s got it, you know, I don’t have to say anymore. It took me two hours before my brain went, Um, you hurt him, you know. And so I had to go back and say, I’m sorry and forgive me. So bubble buddy. Yes. Respecting your bubble buddy. Respecting the fact that it’s, it’s messy for everybody, you know?

Especially when you can’t do what you normally do. We like to go to the beach and we just all get thrown out of our routine. And so biggest thing is, and it’s not just now for the rest of your life, cause there will be times when maybe something happens that you’re stuck somewhere in a confined place with someone. You know, maybe it’s an aunt or an uncle or maybe your mom or your dad or your brother, your sister, might not just be your spouse or your partner. But you know, you’re stuck with somebody for a long period of time. And it’s, it’s understanding how to respect that bubble buddy that you may have at the time. And be gentle to them. Be gentle to yourself, cause you’re doing the best you can. We’re all, you’re all trying to do the best we can.

So that’s it for today. We’re still in love. We’re still good bubble buddies. Our good bubble.

Make a Difference. Love Unconditionally. Forgive Quickly.