“I love it, I can’t believe I finally found it. It was totally worth the wait,” I tell a friend as they take a sip of the coconut rum I had been hunting down for at least a year. It’s only available in the States: I made my poor parents look for it any time they were across the border, and every time they returned empty handed. It was Blue Chair Bay’s coconut rum—in the 2018 commemorative bottle—and I needed it.
Blue Chair Bay is owned by Kenny Chesney: a country artist I grew up singing along with and loving throughout time. When he launched his rum line, I knew I needed to try it. I happened to be in Nashville during the summer of 2019, and I was in luck. I finally found my rum and was able to take it home. It took me months to actually open it: I didn’t want to waste a drop. I am already not one to share—this was especially true for my rum. I didn’t allow anyone a sip, and I only allowed myself some on special occasions.
I’ve always been like that; careful to preserve the things I loved, and terrified to go without them once they were gone. I never burn through my favourite candles in case they’re discontinued, I only wear my favourite shirts when I know there’s no way of staining them (in other words, I rarely wear my favourite shirts), and I am never going to finish my Blue Chair Bay rum. I had no reason to change my ways… until COVID-19 placed a closed sign on literally everything.
I laid in my bed for literal weeks. I couldn’t go to work, I couldn’t go out and as a result I had no motivation. I am extremely extroverted; the silence and boredom easily took a toll on me. Eventually, I got out of bed, began running and sewing mittens out of old sweatpants I had lying around because I couldn’t stand to sit around and do nothing. I cleaned my entire apartment from top to bottom and found different ways to feel some fulfillment.
In the last three years, I booked off every FOCO, attended football games and took pictures. I always took a minute to look up and take in how gorgeous my campus was. Although I wasn’t ready for it to be over, I had made the time to enjoy what I moved to Western to do: experience university. When August rolled around, it was clear FOCO wasn’t happening and I accepted that my final year of university was going to be one without all the things I loved. What I couldn’t get over was how I had previously taken the mundane and normal for granted. It was so easy for me to appreciate the things I knew would come to an end, but I didn’t realize how much a Saturday at Molly Bloom’s, seeing friends or even simply wearing lipstick mattered to me. My most special occasions were most definitely gone, but so were the things I didn’t even realize I would miss. At this rate, my special candles won’t be seeing a lighter, my favourite shirt won’t ever have the chance of getting stained, and my rum would never touch my lips.
Our normal is lost forever. Things will never be quite the same and it’s not unreasonable to say that I may never go dancing in my early to mid-20’s again. I may not buy lipstick for several years, but I definitely won’t ever attend another FOCO as a Western student or have any more brilliant parties with my roommate of four years. Having my best friend over and walking to get coffee with my boyfriend is special to me now. So, I wear my favourite shirt to Shoppers Drug Mart. I burn my candles when I am the only one around. I drank the rum because it was sunny one day, and my friends who were over deserved to taste it too.
Drink the rum.
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