Editor's note: Sarah McLellan is covering the Wild during the NHL postseason in her birthplace of Edmonton, but first must spend 14 days confined to her hotel room. She'll write regularly to her father, who now lives in Arizona, with an update on life with limited freedom.
Day 14: Hey Edmonton, please don't rain on my one-woman parade!
Sarah McLellan is so ready to leave the Edmonton hotel room where's she's been quarantined. She's already planned her Saturday and her Sunday is planned for her: "I have a Wild game to cover."
July 31, 2020 at 4:14PM
Dear Dad,
One more day.
That's it. Then I'm done. I'll have fulfilled the mandatory, two-week quarantine assigned to me when I crossed the border from the U.S. into Canada, and I'll be free to leave my hotel room. And the timing couldn't be better. The NHL playoffs start Saturday.
I feel excited. I feel a sense of accomplishment. I also feel grateful I'm a busy body so that each day passed in a blur and I never got bored. In hindsight, I can't recall what happened on Day 4 compared to Day 10. All I know is that the experience has been productive, insightful and full of delicious Chinese food takeout.
Now it's time to look ahead.
I have plans for how I'm going to celebrate my freedom, and they start tonight actually. I've tried to mostly lay off the desserts in quarantine, but I'm making an exception for the final evening. I'm ordering cheesecake, and I am going to indulge!
Then, once I wake up Saturday morning, I'm going to WALK to Tim Hortons, order an iced coffee and take a leisurely stroll through the River Valley. That's one of my favorite spots in Edmonton, the luscious greenery that borders downtown. You feel like you've escaped to some faraway forest, but then you catch a glimpse of a high-rise through the trees along the trail and you realize you're still in the city.
Supposedly this has been the warmest week in Edmonton this year, and it looks like some of the heat will stick around for me. The forecast is calling for 28 degrees Celsius on Saturday (which is about 82 Fahrenheit) and when I saw that temperature on the news this morning, it was finally relevant to me!
I'll have some practical errands to take care of eventually, like laundry and stocking up on some supplies from the grocery store. But all I can really think about is the fact I'll be able to leave this room. Because come Sunday, I have a Wild game to cover.
That's the reason why I'm here, why I went through quarantine. And now that I'm so close to the finish line, my anticipation for what's next in this journey is rising.
Hockey is back, and so am I.
Love,
Sarah
The veteran forward was injured when hit with a shot during Thursday’s victory over Montreal.
