'I'm an NHS doctor and I got engaged during lockdown'
Last weekend, junior doctor Hannah Rank got engaged to her boyfriend Oli Williams – proving that even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, love always prevails. This is her story.
Romance might not seem high on the agenda right now, particularly if you’re a junior doctor working in A&E. But last weekend, on our first Saturday together in months, Oli – my boyfriend of five years – proposed. It was a moment of unadulterated joy to counteract the unfolding chaos. Everything else was forgotten and in that moment, Covid-19 didn’t exist.
The hospital is demanding at the best of times, so I often work during evenings and weekends. Oli is a chartered accountant, working a conventional five-day week – so our schedules are often at loggerheads. This was our first weekend together since early February and we were not letting coronavirus ruin it. Wanting to make the most of our time, we arranged to get up early, walk along the beach and watch the sunrise over the water. Perhaps I should have been suspicious, but living on the east coast, we do things like that a lot – and with everything going on, the possibility he might pop the question didn’t cross my mind.
We set the alarm for 5am. Oli got up and had a shower, which I thought was odd as we were just going for a walk. I most definitely was not showering, it was far too early to think about looking nice. I pulled on a pair of trackies and a woolly hat, then looked over and saw he’d opted for smart jeans – not exactly early morning beachwear. I was tired from work, so was bickering at him for no reason as we began walking along the beach. The sky went from inky black to a vivid palette of orange and red in front of our eyes and all we could hear were the crashing waves. We were completely alone. Just us.
We met five years ago when we were both working at a ski resort in France. I wasn’t remotely interested, and he told me he fancied my friend. Not a smooth start. But we became friends, and one night I drunkenly confessed that I did fancy him after all. We kissed, then went out for pizza. That was it.
After the ski season ended, I went back to university in Bristol and Oli continued his travels to Central America. I flew to Guatemala and we spent a magical month together, before returning to England and embarking on a long-distance relationship. Oli was working in London and I still had two years of my medicine degree in Bristol, but we visited each other most weekends. There were usually tears on Sunday night, when we said goodbye. But Oli transferred to the Bristol office, so we could live together during my final year and when I got my job in a Newcastle hospital, he followed me.
On the beach, Oli wanted to walk far out around the headland, but the wind was whipping up, so I suggested we turn around. We walked along a pebble spit jutting far out into the water, and stood still wrapped up in each other, as we waited for the sun to emerge from behind the sea. I could feel Oli’s heart pounding through his jumper, which I thought was weird. I asked him why it was beating so fast. He’s very fit so it couldn’t have been the walking...
Then suddenly, he fell to his knee and pulled a little box from his pocket. Inside was a sapphire ring – just like both of our mums have. He said lots of nice things, although it’s all a blur now. All I can remember clearly is ‘will you marry me?’ I was so in shock, it took me a while to say yes. I said, ‘are you sure?!’ He was. We turned around and the sun was just creeping up, a glowing orange orb in the sky, just for us. We walked back, newly engaged, basked in golden sunlight and blissfully happy.
We knew the world was going into meltdown all around us, but that whole weekend it felt like we were in a big bubble, away from it all. We didn’t watch the news, so we felt very apart from the pandemic. The only reminder was the fact we weren’t able to celebrate with our friends and families.
Still on the beach, I called my parents at 6.30am to tell them the news. They were in bed – my mum screaming and crying on Facetime. We sent a message to Oli’s parents saying we had some exciting news (and that it wasn’t anything to do with Covid-19). They didn’t reply for an hour which made us nervous, but it turns out they wanted to get properly dressed for the occasion. Everyone was so happy, but it was tinged with sadness that we wouldn’t be able to celebrate together.
As a compromise, we drove past my parents’ house and waved from the car. I stuck my left hand out of the window so they could get a glimpse of the ring. My mum, dad and sister were all waving like maniacs through the window and there were lots of tears. Mum was sobbing – she said how much she wanted to hug me but couldn’t.
When we got back to our flat, we discovered she and my sister had snuck in while we were out and decorated it with bunting, balloons and flowers. Our friends left a big bunch of sunflowers on the doorstep, too. We felt so loved, if only from a distance. Even if you can’t physically be with each other, there are still so many ways to show someone you care.
It’s been a strange and oddly unifying time to get engaged. Our new downstairs neighbour heard us excitedly yelling out of the window to our friends and posted a card beneath the door to say congratulations. We’ve never met her and probably won’t until this is all over, but the kindness of this stranger really touched us.
Lots of people haven’t been able to buy engagement cards because of shop closures, but Oli’s parents improvised with an ‘On Your Wedding Day’ card, crossing out the word ‘wedding’ and inserting ‘engagement’. Oli’s grandmother is called Hilary, and inside his dad wrote: ‘We couldn’t have wished for a better next Mrs H. Williams”.
That evening, my sister said she had one final surprise for us. In one day, she’d contacted all of our friends and family members, asking them to video themselves saying congratulations. Even my grandparents were in it. I cried hysterically as we watched it – it was so lovely. We’ll treasure this forever.
Times of hardship bring out the best in people – my sister had thought about the fact we wouldn’t be able celebrate with everyone, and had come up with a really special alternative.
It’s been a week since we got engaged and, in that time, the world has turned topsy-turvy. Work is stressful, but home is sacred.
Ordinarily, Oli and I don’t get to see each other much during the week but being in lockdown means that we’re together much more. Our flat has become a bit of a love bubble.
In a way it’s been the perfect time to get engaged. Everyone is so bored at home, they’re so happy and excited to have something else to talk about. It’s been the ultimate good news story to counteract the gloom and is the loveliest distraction from what is a very stressful time at work.
On Monday, I returned to the Covid-19 frontline. I’d only had two days off but, in that time, my world had changed seismically. In the hospital, we’ve completely rearranged A&E to create an entire respiratory section, split off from the wider wards, in an effort to keep all the Covid-19 patients in one place and minimise spread. We’re experiencing a sharp increase in patients who need oxygen and critical care and are preparing for another big influx.
The next few months are going to be challenging, with a lot of 12-hour shifts, weekends and long nights. But we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to get patients through. Coming home and thinking about the future with Oli makes it easier. We will get through this, and then we can start planning our wedding properly. It’s going to be one hell of a party.
I’ve known I wanted to marry Oli for a long time, our engagement just made it official, demonstrating our commitment to each other and the outside world. It feels like a defiant act – the world may have ground to a halt and hospitals may be overrun, but we still managed to get engaged. Even in the depths of despair, there’s always love.
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