FOLLOW-UP Love Knows No Borders:
A Fight to Reunite in a Pandemic (May '21)
This week marks the start of an epic sporting stretch that rivals the twenty-plus times that America's four major leagues have played regular season games on the same day, or that May Saturday in 2015 when the NBA, NHL, baseball and the NFL Draft shared the stage with horse racing, boxing and many other big events. Today (February 2nd), mixed doubles curling begins the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China two days before the Opening Ceremony, followed in two weeks by Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles between the hometown Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. Add the Daytona 500, All-Star Games, Royal Rumble, golf, college hoops, soccer and more -- and February is a sports fan's dream month.
The situation involving Djokovic and the Australian government is the latest story that's put the world's only island continent in the spotlight... and as those on Capitol Hill start planning their midterm strategy, this spring will see Australians head to the polls for a generation-defining election. As it will be later this fall here, the events of the past few years will act as a referendum on Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his incumbent Liberal/National Coalition government. And it's with this backdrop that we offer a follow-up to a story that's been affected in a way by the goings-on in the national capital of Canberra, and one that now has its happy ending. Here, a multi-national couple separated by thousands of miles by not only a pandemic, but also politics that prevented them from a moment they never thought they would have just months ago: an MTV reality alum and his overseas girlfriend finally being reunited.
Normally, DCBLOG has steered clear of covering issues that might be considered sensitive to many people during these times... hence, the vision of this site and my YouTube being promoted as "The Escape You Deserve" was born. But last May, we shined a light on something that brought to light a side effect of the past two years in lockdown that has occurred since: there, an alum of a largely forgotten MTV show found himself leading the conversation about binational couples who were separated from each other by the pandemic... and in this case, it's him being separated by both thousands of miles and the Pacific Ocean to his significant other.
Like many other nations, Australia experienced its first COVID case in January 2020, and shut down its borders to international travelers two months later. It was in that same March 2020 that Dani flew to the U.S. to help Alex begin a process of moving from America to Australia that would not be complete for almost two years when she flew back down under at the pandemic's outset and never returned. During this uncertain time -- and after their story aired on Australian television, Alex joined with millions both in and outside the country to voice their opinions and anger at Prime Minister Scott Morrison and government officials on both sides of the political aisle in the capital of Canberra and the eight states & territories that make up this nation of 26 million people. And for where Danielle calls home, Australia's second largest city is the one city that's been severely affected by this outbreak.
Melbourne has ranked as one of the world's most livable cities the past decade, but which has also spent almost an exact year in the past two years of its business, recreational and non-essential establishments being slammed shut to prevent the virus from spreading -- more than any other city in the world. It's due to several periods in lockdown that forced Australia's biggest game, the Australian Football League's Grand Final, to determine its champions outside the city and the state of Victoria when Brisbane and Perth hosted the last two title games, among other casualties. The city has also been ground zero for numerous and often violent COVID-related protests that's seen many clashes with police and thousands being led off in handcuffs, similar to the situations of anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine nonsense that's been taking place in other nations, and the Black Lives Matter civil unrest in America in summer 2020.
Since our story entitled "Love Knows No Borders" was first posted last May, Australia has continued to grapple with the virus in a reversal of what made it and neighboring New Zealand a model for other nations. Sydney and other major population centers also became deserted towns during what is winter down under in June, when other variants added more cases and deaths to that grim statistic board. But when 80% of the population got vaccinated by the time summer in the Southern Hemisphere came around in December, a plan to build back Australia allowed a number of restrictions to finally be eased... and that includes a gradual restoration of in-and-outbound travel for residents and international visitors.
It's with this in mind that the day that both our subjects thought they would never have would finally come -- ironically enough during those two weeks when youngsters everywhere are on their winter break (and school is out for summer down under). When Australia finally allowed residents to travel out of country once again, around Boxing Day (their answer to Black Friday in it being the biggest shopping day in the British Commonwealth on the day after Christmas) Dani flew across the Pacific Ocean and eighteen time zones, and to Gotham to surprise Sheen. And her boyfriend knew of only one thing to mark a visit that was twenty-two months in the making and well overdue...
When they went to the backyard of America's greatest city, Alex popped out an engagement ring in the middle of Central Park in Manhattan and popped the magic question. Dani got to say "yes," and within a month they were on their way to the land down under at last not only in fulfilling that goal of moving to Melbourne as he had planned two years earlier, but also as an engaged couple as well on that plane ride to his new hometown. His Instagram post read simply, "She said yes! The perfect day...the perfect girl." And this story does, indeed, finally have its happy ending as they are together once again, and reunited.
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