Guys, I think we might be seeing the back end of this pandemic.
Looking back at my initial thoughts when this started, I definitely did not anticipate that it would be 14 months before I could even consider things like concerts, festivals, and my beloved conventions. But as the vaccinations are going out, the number of cases is going down. My social butterfly self is OUT THERE AND LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT (yes, that was a Seinfeld reference).
So, here are a few of my thoughts as the numbers continue to make like the rain outside and fall.
I am finally okay saying that I am sick of wearing masks. I have been wearing one for 8 hours per day every day at work since last March because my job has me up and around other people all day. I have worn one in every public situation. I have not complained, and reminded other people to grab one before leaving home. I did not complain because I knew how important it was. When I was a kid I hated wearing seat belts because they hit my neck in a way that bugged me. But I wore one anyway because it’s important. I viewed masks in the same way, so I never complained. Now that the CDC has cleared the fully vaccinated to return to unmasked life, I will be the first to say that I am only too happy to ditch these things. I want my lipstick back, darn it! And don’t even get me started on mask acne.
When we first started wearing masks, I had to adjust the way I read people. I never realized how often I read people’s lips until I couldn’t do it anymore and had to ask people to repeat stuff all the time. And losing that much of a person’s face is strange when reading facial expressions.
Throughout this whole thing, I have been so grateful for my friends. We all kept tabs on each other throughout the various lockdowns and changes. Book club has been an amazing avenue for communication and a little bit of escapism. And now, we have a thousand plans for a thousand things we want to do. I’m so grateful that I still have people who want to tag along with me and invite me on various excursions. We can finally make life a bit more adventurous.
I would be remiss if I neglected to mention the romance that started during the height of lockdown (see my previous blog posts for the story on that). Yeah, that’s still going. From the very early days of our relationship, Alex and I have talked about wanting to adventure together, both in the form of travel and interesting experiences close to home. I feel like now that we’ve had a lot of time to build emotional connection through the simple, private interactions, our adventures will be all the more exciting and memorable. And heck, if a relationship can maintain a spark over this amount of time and distance in this kind of world, there must be something special here. And now, we have a whole world to explore together. Okay, okay, I’m gonna give myself a cavity if I keep writing stuff this sweet.
Never mind, my next point is also pretty sweet, I’ll call my dentist later. Let me tell you the story of an incredible woman. She is in her 50’s and has “adopted” several con friends and me as her “kids.” Due to an unfortunate marriage that ended badly, she never had children by birth, so we are only too happy to come over to her house and play games, make food, and just enjoy her mothering all of us. This whole pandemic thing would be difficult enough, with her having to stay home all the time and us having to limit contact, but she had a huge bombshell last September. She had breast cancer. Due to a family history, she had been vigilant about regular checks, and she was able to catch it early before it could spread. But she had to go through chemotherapy, which wrecks your immune system. Did I mention this was happening during a PANDEMIC? So, of course, we couldn’t offer the kind of support we wanted to give our mom-friend. But we made sure to check up on her over the phone, so she knew we were always thinking of her. She had found the love of her life after the messy divorce, so she did have her husband, who was wonderful throughout the whole thing (Hey, you’re never too old to find love). And for Christmas, we put together a box of small gifts and notes of encouragement and left it on her porch. Then we ran to the car and called her to watch her pick it up. The happy tears when she saw it were worth all of the rigamarole of prep and delivery.
When the vaccines started rolling out, we instantly started planning our first in-person get together. The chemo was over and her strength was starting to return, so once we were all fully vaccinated, we felt it was finally safe to have a dinner party. That dinner party was Sunday night, and it was so wonderful to shower her and her husband in all of the love and encouragement we had so wanted to give for so many months. If there is one person who deserves an award for surviving 2020, it’s her. I’m telling this story because I want to give some recognition to Wendy. I'm proud to be one of her “kids.”
The return to something more like my 2019 life is both figuratively and literally a breath of fresh air. I have a newfound appreciation for my health and the value of social interaction. Humans are a social species, we need each other. I appreciate the creativity of people finding ways to safely support each other in a world no one can predict. And I’m re-learning the balance of social vs alone time. I’ve had too much social at times in my life, and this year I have definitely had times of too much alone, so now it’s time to try and re-find that happy medium. It’s tempting to just try and cram everything in, but I know that’s not healthy either.
So, vaxxed and unmasked, I venture into the world once more, finding what feels like the 56th new normal. I hope my readers are enjoying a more relaxed existence. Here’s to greater things!
