A Moment in My Life – Tuesday, April 20, 2021
“You can come out now; the coast is clear.” I’m sure we’ve all said or heard this saying at some point in our lifetime. These words echo in my head as the world around me reopens, and more and more people get vaccinated. Once I told some friends that I was getting vaccinated, my social calendar began filling up. I was surprised how comfortable people were to get back out there so soon. Call me a wimp if you like, but I’m not eager to jump back into the world yet. A scene from the movie “Jaws” keeps replaying in my mind that it’s too soon to go back into the water. That’s how I feel. I pushed off the invitations to the latter part of the month to buy me more time before I commit. Don’t get me wrong. I look forward to hanging out with my peeps, but patience will pay off. You know that saying, “Good things come to those who wait”? We’ve survived a year in the pandemic being hermits. We can do it a little longer. Let’s give the vaccine time to do its thing and give the virus a little longer to die out. That’s my thinking.
Sometimes I don’t get what I want, and I must go with the flow. Maybe without knowing it, that’s the nudge I need. My good friend celebrated her 60th birthday with a front lawn surprise celebration a couple of weeks ago. As much as I wasn’t crazy about a group gathering, I made an appearance in support. Everybody did a part to have a safe party, keeping with social distancing protocols. I’m glad I attended. I had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone, even if only partially. One cool thing was checking out everybody’s mask choices. There should be a prize for the most creative or the craziest mask or something fun like that.
A week ago, I was honored that my niece, Sassy, who hasn’t taken a vacation since she started her new job two years ago and was about to lose vacay hours, chose to spend her time off with me. This trip made up for the May 2020 visit that didn’t happen. The fact that I got my second Pfizer shot on Easter Sunday and she got her J&J shot a couple of days later didn’t put me at ease. I was neither going to deny her visit nor was I going to jump for joy either. I love hanging out with her, and so I made the best of the situation. Of course, her job didn’t allow her a “no-work” vacation, which was a blessing in disguise. It let us spend some time together while keeping our distance during part of the day. It worked out well.
I laugh when I think that I wore my mask in the car with Sassy after sharing the house for a couple of days. I’m not wrong thinking that being in the confines of my car, I should mask up, but I realized how silly that was when she asked, “Do you always wear a mask while driving?” Good question. I don’t when I’m alone. Considering she’s as phobic as I am about avoiding Covid, we’re both as healthy as could be. Before this trip, we both worked remotely, got vaccinated, and we already shared the same house for a few days, which made me realize how paranoid or silly, I was being.
We reserved the last morning for our photoshoot. It felt terrific standing side-by-side again. Although the pandemic made us guarded, which isn’t bad, it kept us from getting closer like pre-Covid. I’m sure we’ll relax in time as we regain our comfort levels. It’s good we are cautious. I’ll gingerly stick my toe into the water for a while. I’m not diving in even if you holler, “You can come out now; the coast is clear!”
