We all need hope, especially after a dark and disorientating year. We can see flickers of better days as the vaccine news continues to show that the wonders of science and medicine have the power to deliver us from this godforsaken deadly plague. But even as we hope, we must be vigilant in holding on to public health protocols to prevent another wave. And we also must take time to mourn all those who have passed, and to provide comfort to those still ill and the bereaved. That includes undoubtedly many of you. This pandemic has cast a wide net of despair, but it has hit especially hard communities that already suffer from our historical, social, and economic inequalities.
Nevertheless, we must find ways to go on, and to yearn for the sustenance that a return to human connectivity can bring - to family and community, to schools, concerts, dinners out, movies, and just plain hugs.
I was thinking of a day that I once might have taken for granted and now feels like a dream, one I dare to believe could return. It’s a sunny Sunday in early summer. I awaken and take a morning walk. The sidewalks are crowded with families and friends, laughing, holding hands, walking close to each other. I can see the smiles on their faces. There is a smile on my own face as well, because I have tickets to the ballgame. By the time we arrive, the stadium is packed and the cheers are loud. The game is close, a pitching duel. I eye the scoreboard. Extra innings? I know I will have to leave shortly because Jean and I have early dinner reservations with friends before a night at the theater. It’s a play by Horton Foote.
So my question for you is when the vaccine has fully come, when hopefully this scourge has receded, what can you not wait to do?
As always, I hope that you share your thoughts with others in the Steady community, and that you can react to each other’s ideas, with respect and empathy. This pandemic has proven yet again the need for communication and togetherness. Hopefully that will be in person with much greater frequency in the near future.
We are going to stay at home as much as possible until the fervor dies down. I don't feel safe leaving my house anymore, not with reckless antimaskers and bible-thumping anti-Christian Fascists on the loose. At that point it won't be about the lack of masks but the lack of sanity, empathy, humanity. I'll be arming myself, but I still won't leave my house much. Guns aren't some kind of armor that makes you invulnerable. Unfortunately, 'those guys' believe it, and I think they're going to try out their newfound reckless stupidity on a large scale before too long. We've got to increase the ranks of the police force and the military, and to fund them. We've got to vote for people who believe in democracy, freedoms, and equal justice under the law. Above all, there's a cancer of recklessness in this country that could kill us much faster than coronavirus ever could, and until that is resolved, I'm not going to socialize outside much.
My wife and I clear the two weeks following her 2nd shot and my J&J shot at the end of the month.
We've been caregivers for her mom for around three years, as Lewy Body Dementia slowly took her life, ending last month at the age of 95. We really weren't able to do much in the six months pre-COVID though did get a week's respite in early February last year before the lockdown. It was our choice not to put her in a facility and despite the mental and physical hurt to our own bodies from the past year, we have no regrets.
Sadly, her dad in Florida isn't doing well but nonetheless we look forward to a needed change in latitude and some healing time as part of that trip.
Protect good corporations from looting and violence. Super markets, retail, etc... We will begin to see a rise in instances of theft, etc. Form community watch groups in areas where they dont have enough support.
I’m going to hug my 75 year old mother! It’s been a YEAR and she’s fully vaccinated and I get my second shot Saturday. Touch is so vital to humanity and the cruelest thing about this virus is just that-the humanity it denies us.
A year ago, I stood in a college classroom face-to-face with live students. Then we had to hit the lifeboats and figure out how to teach from our computers. Ever since then, I have been a talking head on Zoom discussing great literature with so many animated postage stamps. I am desperate to get back in the classroom, introduce students to Shakespeare, Thoreau, Austen, Dostoevsky, and see what the students can make of them. Committee meetings can stay on Zoom—those work well enough—but the lively give-and-take of the classroom is irreplaceable.
We are like two kids anticipating summer break! We finally get travel (by car) to visit our granddaughter. We missed her 1st birthday in March of 2020, but GiGi and G-Pop will be there for her 2nd! As wonderful as FaceTime and Portal are for distance connection with family, nothing beats seeing her in person and her Mama (our daughter) and Daddy.
I want to get back to doing theater. We are a theater family. My husband and I were just one day from opening in the show 12 Angry Jurors when the lockdown happened. I haven't seen any of my colleagues in a year. All shows cancelled, not only in my little corner of the world, but nationwide. Worldwide. The pandemic has been devastating for everybody in the performing arts. Many of my friends are employed professionally. What do you do when your work simply disappears for a year or more? America has a tendency to consider "the arts" as frivolous and nonessential, but are they? The arts are equivalent to religion for many of us. They deliver a deep communal experience to all involved. But the arts don't make money for enough of the "right" people, so they tend to get short shrift. Sometimes they don't make money at all, the worst of all possible sins in America!
Given what we've all been through, I'd like to see this country reevaluate its priorities as far as what's considered essential to a life well-lived. There will be a great pent up desire for these communal interactions when live performances can once again be done safely.
We postponed our 25th Wedding Anniversary trip, so I'd like to (hopefully) reschedule that. Otherwise, I'll take a Broadway show or a trip to Disney if we can afford it.
Breathe? Relax. This has been a VERY stressful year - just keeping people away (unfortunately) from my 98 year old Mom. Worse - she’s developed some cognitive issues and just hasn’t understood not being able to see others.
Visit family for sure. I have a sister in an adult facility that I haven’t been able to see for over a year now. Her and I are the last two remaining siblings out of six. I really need a hug.
I can't wait to hug my mom and friends. All this distance is, well, distancing. After that? Go to dinner with friends at the diner, indoors, and relax and talk over coffee.
I'm currently in a job that requires a lot of travel, but since the pandemic, I've not traveled as much. This has given me the opportunity to start studying for a change in my job that will require no travel. It will not happen right away but in the next couple of years.
Like so many people, I have missed seeing my family the most during this pandemic. I moved to the East coast from California, where I had lived my entire life, in 2009. From the time I moved, my boyfriend (now my husband) made sure to send me to CA to see my sons at least every three months. The last time I saw them was November 2019. Although they are all grown, they are still my babies and I miss them! When I get my vaccine, the first place I go is to see My 3 Sons (yep...like the TV show😉) I cannot wait.......To see their faces & touch their cheeks. To hear their voices in person. To get the hugs they reserve for Mama Bear alone! It will be a little piece of Heaven in my book ❤️
While my hearing is not so badly impaired that I depend completely on lip reading, I still depend heavily on the normal social cues of facial expressions and feel constantly lost when trying to hold a conversation with a masked person. I have never been comfortable on the telephone, so I get even more confused when face-to-face but still having to listen desperately for non-verbal cues in the other person's muffled voice as if they weren't even in front of me. Zoom meetings can sometimes be easier than face to face because of this.
I so look forward to being able to see faces again.
Hug my grown Son. He is suffering from severe PTSD from his time serving our country as part of a remote combat unit USAF. He is in the process of being medically retired after 10 years of service. Please reach out to your congressional representatives as of this time, remote combat is not considered combat for our Women and Men serving or our Veterans. As my Son has related to me, we spend 12 hours engaged in taking life and carrying out the missions and expected to then leave base and go home and everything be normal.
I will 👀 my dad who is in Hospital for kidney failure. He does not have Covid but He put off treatment because of Covid and now He is paying the price. I will see and hold my 6 month old Grandchild.
It is amazing what we so often take for granted. My wife and I truly miss taking a stroll on the New Jersey boardwalks. We love to take in the sights, sounds, smells and the salt air! We also love to hop in the car and head out to one of our favorite restaurants (and there are several), where we can indulge in an evening of relaxation and enjoy each other's company. Soon again, hopefully!
I want to talk to strangers. I want to sit in the park and watch the families and animals. I want to go to concerts and baseball games. I don't want us to attempt to go 'back' to the normal we had before, I want it to be better, with everyone more attuned to being better to each other. I want the 46th administration to be bold with changes in our lifestyle for the future.
I'm the type of mom that will drop everything and go see my kids if they need me. My eldest has had medical issues, limiting her mobility, since last Summer. I've been desperate to go and help her out. But a 6 hour flight across the country is too risky.
I am a transplanted Texan, having moved here from Colorado about 3 years ago. I have quickly grown to love my town, this State, and its people. We moved here for one big reason, we wanted to be closer to family. Between Dallas and Houston we've got lots of folks to see, but it has been over a year since we got the chance. This is the first thing we are going to do once we are all fully vaccinated.
But, please take this as solid example. We will still be wearing masks.
I just want to be able to hang out with all my friends. I have largely been unaffected by this in that nothing really bothers me. I'm built differently than most people so forgive me if this sounds like I don't care. I care very much and I know how hard this is on most people. However, all I want is to be able to go into large groups with no fear. I'm very outgoing and I too would enjoy a ball game!!
I cannot wait to see my family again and enjoy really big bear hugs and get caught up on everyone’s news! It has been horrible not to see them and not to be allowed to visit friends in nursing homes.
Not allowed myself to consider that question. Told myself a year ago that I would be bubbled at home for 18 months. Not yet time to come out from under my rock.
This is timely. Last night my mom and I texted the last normal life picture that we took before lock-down to each other. For me, it was of my husband and son, sitting in a coffee shop after going out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. They were goofing off, being themselves, and I snapped the picture on a whim. The next day school was cancelled and we locked down.
I want to see my mom. I want to go back to my hometown. I want summer outdoor concerts, movies, going to dinner with friends, and hugs. I want to travel! I'm a little worried that travel might be difficult at first, because everyone will want to travel, and it will become something only the wealthy can do for awhile. Here's hoping! And for some crazy reason, I've become concerned that I might never see Carlos Santana perform live again. He's not getting any younger, and I just want to see him one more time before he retires. It's crazy the things that we latch on to and wish for in times like these.
Lastly, I want everyone else to get their wishes too. I'm hoping that as things open back up, people will emerge from the collective hell that we've all experienced a little kinder, and a little more respectful of each other. This country has suffered so much over the last few years, it's time to heal.
Hugs, eating out, gathering with loved ones, mass, singing in the choir, movies, ball games... And I hope I remember to never ever take any of it for granted again.
I want my husband to be able to sit down with his best friend from childhood and comfort him over the loss of his only child during this pandemic. Yes, we went to the viewing, which was incredibly hard and the burial the next day. My husband and I couldn't hug his friend or his wife and at that moment I realized that all of the victims of covid did not necessarily die of covid.
I miss so many things. I cannot wait to see my friends smile or hug my parents. I long for my kids to be able to play freely and without worry at the park and in so many of their favorite play places. I'd like to celebrate birthdays and have cookouts in our backyard. Mostly, I want to travel and explore the world outside my 5 mile radius of the last year. Travel has been at the core of my being since I can remember and I need something to plan and look forward to experiencing. It's been hard for this restless wanderer to stay in one place. Hard but worth it as my family has come through this so far healthy. Wishing you all well and keep strong.
I know that this is probably a popular one, but I'd like to go back on vacations with my family. I've been wanting to go on a cruise with my grandparents for many years, and last year was when they were booked. They're all fully vaccinated now, and I hope that the industry will fully re-open by late 2021/early 2022 so that we can enjoy and spend time with each other.
Im chair of westside community council in ventura, ca. I want our 200 person meetings back, in the Bell Arts communitu center, with Coffee, tea, vegan snacks evetybody chattering and hugging before the meeting begins. Maybe we csn have a memorial service for Zoom!
First, fly to spend time with our grandchildren in person for the first time in over a year. Second, enjoy time with our close friends going to public events and eating out together again. Third, go to our neighborhood grocery store to do my own shopping inside again.
Very simple, hug my grandchildren, my mom, my children! Oh and my friends! Coming out of this artic vortex we had a few weeks past it has been so awesome to have people show up in my driveway, still distancing, not hugging . I am going to scoop up my grandchildren and try not to break their ribs!
I missed a month of work when I got sick. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. My mom died from covid 2 months after I recovered. I just want to be able to have normal family get togethers, go to movies, and spend days with friends without worrying about what germs we are sharing. I work in a clinic, so I have had both vaccinations. Eagerly looking forward to a return to a semi-formal way of life, but not naive to think it will ever be completely back to pre-covid times...
I will be (thankfully) getting my second shot next week, on the 18th. Being able to say that I will 95% protected is tremendous. I want to plant many kisses on my two grown daughters. I have missed that a lot.
I can’t wait to have dinner parties again. Right now we are thinking about have company for Easter dinner. I love cooking for company, a full dinner from appetizers to dessert. I can’t wait.
An engagement celebration for my son and his fiancée! He courted her at the end of 2019 and through the pandemic and asked her to marry him this past December. None of his close friend have nor most of our family have even met her. I would love to have everyone at my house to toast their new adventure!
With or without the vaccine, the public must immediately turn to nutritious food, eliminate processed and impoverished substitutes, insist on agro-ecological practices to replace toxics that deplete our bombarded and weakened immune systems planet-wise, focus on mindfulness and positiveness prioritizing struggles for justice, strengthen alternative and ambulatory organic markets and producers, educate children to love and care for the Earth, the Water, the Air, take measures to restore what once was a beautiful planet, and above all, inspite of efforts to undermine truth in all its permutations, get informed so that your day by day decisions count for the best you could muster at any given time. There is no going back, only forward, but not on the World Economic Forum reset basis. The thegreaterreset.com/ back-to-the-future 'cells' forming around the world are transforming nostalgia for the past into not only visioning for a future world based on environmental and collective values, but are taking ACTIONS towards those goals. As a co-founder of several ecovillages (one of 39-year longevity!) it is clear that longing for what used-to-be won't cut it for facing up to the next two and then some years. It's time for a make-over, with heart and intelligence!
Recorder players around the country have done our best to keep the music going. Many of our local groups have managed to continue this year with Zoom sessions, but we all long for the chance to actually get together to play. One of my closest player friends and I having both received our second shots are making plans to get together to play duets and our larger group with members all over Connecticut have hopes that by summer we could at least have an outdoor get-together. Assuming things go well, we hope to return to our monthly in person meetings, but having enjoyed having teachers via Zoom that we might never have had otherwise , we may plan to continue with two or three such sessions, too.
My wife is agitated with my hearing, especially when her lips are moving, but I am not deaf. After reading Susan's post, I will have to admit I am dumb. It never occurred to me what this
pandemic has inflicted on those who are deaf. Shame on me for feeling inconvenienced by this virus when so many others have real issues. Her story was a real wake-up for me and, I hope,
Stay hunkered down until the US-Canada border is opened
Two weeks after my second vaccine shot I will live my life to the fullest, I can.
We are going to stay at home as much as possible until the fervor dies down. I don't feel safe leaving my house anymore, not with reckless antimaskers and bible-thumping anti-Christian Fascists on the loose. At that point it won't be about the lack of masks but the lack of sanity, empathy, humanity. I'll be arming myself, but I still won't leave my house much. Guns aren't some kind of armor that makes you invulnerable. Unfortunately, 'those guys' believe it, and I think they're going to try out their newfound reckless stupidity on a large scale before too long. We've got to increase the ranks of the police force and the military, and to fund them. We've got to vote for people who believe in democracy, freedoms, and equal justice under the law. Above all, there's a cancer of recklessness in this country that could kill us much faster than coronavirus ever could, and until that is resolved, I'm not going to socialize outside much.
My wife and I clear the two weeks following her 2nd shot and my J&J shot at the end of the month.
We've been caregivers for her mom for around three years, as Lewy Body Dementia slowly took her life, ending last month at the age of 95. We really weren't able to do much in the six months pre-COVID though did get a week's respite in early February last year before the lockdown. It was our choice not to put her in a facility and despite the mental and physical hurt to our own bodies from the past year, we have no regrets.
Sadly, her dad in Florida isn't doing well but nonetheless we look forward to a needed change in latitude and some healing time as part of that trip.
Protect good corporations from looting and violence. Super markets, retail, etc... We will begin to see a rise in instances of theft, etc. Form community watch groups in areas where they dont have enough support.
HUGS! I miss hugs!
I’m going to hug my 75 year old mother! It’s been a YEAR and she’s fully vaccinated and I get my second shot Saturday. Touch is so vital to humanity and the cruelest thing about this virus is just that-the humanity it denies us.
A year ago, I stood in a college classroom face-to-face with live students. Then we had to hit the lifeboats and figure out how to teach from our computers. Ever since then, I have been a talking head on Zoom discussing great literature with so many animated postage stamps. I am desperate to get back in the classroom, introduce students to Shakespeare, Thoreau, Austen, Dostoevsky, and see what the students can make of them. Committee meetings can stay on Zoom—those work well enough—but the lively give-and-take of the classroom is irreplaceable.
I can’t wait to sing with choirs. I want to stand shoulder to shoulder with singers and work together to make music. I. Can’t. Wait.
We are like two kids anticipating summer break! We finally get travel (by car) to visit our granddaughter. We missed her 1st birthday in March of 2020, but GiGi and G-Pop will be there for her 2nd! As wonderful as FaceTime and Portal are for distance connection with family, nothing beats seeing her in person and her Mama (our daughter) and Daddy.
I want to get back to doing theater. We are a theater family. My husband and I were just one day from opening in the show 12 Angry Jurors when the lockdown happened. I haven't seen any of my colleagues in a year. All shows cancelled, not only in my little corner of the world, but nationwide. Worldwide. The pandemic has been devastating for everybody in the performing arts. Many of my friends are employed professionally. What do you do when your work simply disappears for a year or more? America has a tendency to consider "the arts" as frivolous and nonessential, but are they? The arts are equivalent to religion for many of us. They deliver a deep communal experience to all involved. But the arts don't make money for enough of the "right" people, so they tend to get short shrift. Sometimes they don't make money at all, the worst of all possible sins in America!
Given what we've all been through, I'd like to see this country reevaluate its priorities as far as what's considered essential to a life well-lived. There will be a great pent up desire for these communal interactions when live performances can once again be done safely.
We postponed our 25th Wedding Anniversary trip, so I'd like to (hopefully) reschedule that. Otherwise, I'll take a Broadway show or a trip to Disney if we can afford it.
Breathe? Relax. This has been a VERY stressful year - just keeping people away (unfortunately) from my 98 year old Mom. Worse - she’s developed some cognitive issues and just hasn’t understood not being able to see others.
Re-connect with loved ones that I haven't seen in a year.
Visit family for sure. I have a sister in an adult facility that I haven’t been able to see for over a year now. Her and I are the last two remaining siblings out of six. I really need a hug.
I can't wait to hug my mom and friends. All this distance is, well, distancing. After that? Go to dinner with friends at the diner, indoors, and relax and talk over coffee.
I'm currently in a job that requires a lot of travel, but since the pandemic, I've not traveled as much. This has given me the opportunity to start studying for a change in my job that will require no travel. It will not happen right away but in the next couple of years.
Wear my mask and distance but go out a little more. Definitely go see grandchildren.
Continue with precautions
Like so many people, I have missed seeing my family the most during this pandemic. I moved to the East coast from California, where I had lived my entire life, in 2009. From the time I moved, my boyfriend (now my husband) made sure to send me to CA to see my sons at least every three months. The last time I saw them was November 2019. Although they are all grown, they are still my babies and I miss them! When I get my vaccine, the first place I go is to see My 3 Sons (yep...like the TV show😉) I cannot wait.......To see their faces & touch their cheeks. To hear their voices in person. To get the hugs they reserve for Mama Bear alone! It will be a little piece of Heaven in my book ❤️
While my hearing is not so badly impaired that I depend completely on lip reading, I still depend heavily on the normal social cues of facial expressions and feel constantly lost when trying to hold a conversation with a masked person. I have never been comfortable on the telephone, so I get even more confused when face-to-face but still having to listen desperately for non-verbal cues in the other person's muffled voice as if they weren't even in front of me. Zoom meetings can sometimes be easier than face to face because of this.
I so look forward to being able to see faces again.
Hug my grown Son. He is suffering from severe PTSD from his time serving our country as part of a remote combat unit USAF. He is in the process of being medically retired after 10 years of service. Please reach out to your congressional representatives as of this time, remote combat is not considered combat for our Women and Men serving or our Veterans. As my Son has related to me, we spend 12 hours engaged in taking life and carrying out the missions and expected to then leave base and go home and everything be normal.
I will 👀 my dad who is in Hospital for kidney failure. He does not have Covid but He put off treatment because of Covid and now He is paying the price. I will see and hold my 6 month old Grandchild.
I look forward to dressing up and going to our favorite restaurant for an elegant meal.
It is amazing what we so often take for granted. My wife and I truly miss taking a stroll on the New Jersey boardwalks. We love to take in the sights, sounds, smells and the salt air! We also love to hop in the car and head out to one of our favorite restaurants (and there are several), where we can indulge in an evening of relaxation and enjoy each other's company. Soon again, hopefully!
I want to talk to strangers. I want to sit in the park and watch the families and animals. I want to go to concerts and baseball games. I don't want us to attempt to go 'back' to the normal we had before, I want it to be better, with everyone more attuned to being better to each other. I want the 46th administration to be bold with changes in our lifestyle for the future.
I'm the type of mom that will drop everything and go see my kids if they need me. My eldest has had medical issues, limiting her mobility, since last Summer. I've been desperate to go and help her out. But a 6 hour flight across the country is too risky.
I am a transplanted Texan, having moved here from Colorado about 3 years ago. I have quickly grown to love my town, this State, and its people. We moved here for one big reason, we wanted to be closer to family. Between Dallas and Houston we've got lots of folks to see, but it has been over a year since we got the chance. This is the first thing we are going to do once we are all fully vaccinated.
But, please take this as solid example. We will still be wearing masks.
I just want to be able to hang out with all my friends. I have largely been unaffected by this in that nothing really bothers me. I'm built differently than most people so forgive me if this sounds like I don't care. I care very much and I know how hard this is on most people. However, all I want is to be able to go into large groups with no fear. I'm very outgoing and I too would enjoy a ball game!!
I cannot wait to see my family again and enjoy really big bear hugs and get caught up on everyone’s news! It has been horrible not to see them and not to be allowed to visit friends in nursing homes.
Not allowed myself to consider that question. Told myself a year ago that I would be bubbled at home for 18 months. Not yet time to come out from under my rock.
This is timely. Last night my mom and I texted the last normal life picture that we took before lock-down to each other. For me, it was of my husband and son, sitting in a coffee shop after going out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. They were goofing off, being themselves, and I snapped the picture on a whim. The next day school was cancelled and we locked down.
I want to see my mom. I want to go back to my hometown. I want summer outdoor concerts, movies, going to dinner with friends, and hugs. I want to travel! I'm a little worried that travel might be difficult at first, because everyone will want to travel, and it will become something only the wealthy can do for awhile. Here's hoping! And for some crazy reason, I've become concerned that I might never see Carlos Santana perform live again. He's not getting any younger, and I just want to see him one more time before he retires. It's crazy the things that we latch on to and wish for in times like these.
Lastly, I want everyone else to get their wishes too. I'm hoping that as things open back up, people will emerge from the collective hell that we've all experienced a little kinder, and a little more respectful of each other. This country has suffered so much over the last few years, it's time to heal.
Hugs, eating out, gathering with loved ones, mass, singing in the choir, movies, ball games... And I hope I remember to never ever take any of it for granted again.
Be with my family and hug my children and grandchildren.
Cookout with friends. Drinking beer and swapping lies. A walk with my wife thru the Bishop Arts District...window shopping, people watching.
I want my husband to be able to sit down with his best friend from childhood and comfort him over the loss of his only child during this pandemic. Yes, we went to the viewing, which was incredibly hard and the burial the next day. My husband and I couldn't hug his friend or his wife and at that moment I realized that all of the victims of covid did not necessarily die of covid.
Love all the help, kindness and support to those with hearing issues! Folks seem very compassionate! That's a good thing!
I miss so many things. I cannot wait to see my friends smile or hug my parents. I long for my kids to be able to play freely and without worry at the park and in so many of their favorite play places. I'd like to celebrate birthdays and have cookouts in our backyard. Mostly, I want to travel and explore the world outside my 5 mile radius of the last year. Travel has been at the core of my being since I can remember and I need something to plan and look forward to experiencing. It's been hard for this restless wanderer to stay in one place. Hard but worth it as my family has come through this so far healthy. Wishing you all well and keep strong.
I know that this is probably a popular one, but I'd like to go back on vacations with my family. I've been wanting to go on a cruise with my grandparents for many years, and last year was when they were booked. They're all fully vaccinated now, and I hope that the industry will fully re-open by late 2021/early 2022 so that we can enjoy and spend time with each other.
Im chair of westside community council in ventura, ca. I want our 200 person meetings back, in the Bell Arts communitu center, with Coffee, tea, vegan snacks evetybody chattering and hugging before the meeting begins. Maybe we csn have a memorial service for Zoom!
First, fly to spend time with our grandchildren in person for the first time in over a year. Second, enjoy time with our close friends going to public events and eating out together again. Third, go to our neighborhood grocery store to do my own shopping inside again.
Very simple, hug my grandchildren, my mom, my children! Oh and my friends! Coming out of this artic vortex we had a few weeks past it has been so awesome to have people show up in my driveway, still distancing, not hugging . I am going to scoop up my grandchildren and try not to break their ribs!
I missed a month of work when I got sick. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. My mom died from covid 2 months after I recovered. I just want to be able to have normal family get togethers, go to movies, and spend days with friends without worrying about what germs we are sharing. I work in a clinic, so I have had both vaccinations. Eagerly looking forward to a return to a semi-formal way of life, but not naive to think it will ever be completely back to pre-covid times...
I will be glad when people can see that I smile at them and I can see them smiling back.
I will be (thankfully) getting my second shot next week, on the 18th. Being able to say that I will 95% protected is tremendous. I want to plant many kisses on my two grown daughters. I have missed that a lot.
I can’t wait to have dinner parties again. Right now we are thinking about have company for Easter dinner. I love cooking for company, a full dinner from appetizers to dessert. I can’t wait.
An engagement celebration for my son and his fiancée! He courted her at the end of 2019 and through the pandemic and asked her to marry him this past December. None of his close friend have nor most of our family have even met her. I would love to have everyone at my house to toast their new adventure!
With or without the vaccine, the public must immediately turn to nutritious food, eliminate processed and impoverished substitutes, insist on agro-ecological practices to replace toxics that deplete our bombarded and weakened immune systems planet-wise, focus on mindfulness and positiveness prioritizing struggles for justice, strengthen alternative and ambulatory organic markets and producers, educate children to love and care for the Earth, the Water, the Air, take measures to restore what once was a beautiful planet, and above all, inspite of efforts to undermine truth in all its permutations, get informed so that your day by day decisions count for the best you could muster at any given time. There is no going back, only forward, but not on the World Economic Forum reset basis. The thegreaterreset.com/ back-to-the-future 'cells' forming around the world are transforming nostalgia for the past into not only visioning for a future world based on environmental and collective values, but are taking ACTIONS towards those goals. As a co-founder of several ecovillages (one of 39-year longevity!) it is clear that longing for what used-to-be won't cut it for facing up to the next two and then some years. It's time for a make-over, with heart and intelligence!
Recorder players around the country have done our best to keep the music going. Many of our local groups have managed to continue this year with Zoom sessions, but we all long for the chance to actually get together to play. One of my closest player friends and I having both received our second shots are making plans to get together to play duets and our larger group with members all over Connecticut have hopes that by summer we could at least have an outdoor get-together. Assuming things go well, we hope to return to our monthly in person meetings, but having enjoyed having teachers via Zoom that we might never have had otherwise , we may plan to continue with two or three such sessions, too.
My wife is agitated with my hearing, especially when her lips are moving, but I am not deaf. After reading Susan's post, I will have to admit I am dumb. It never occurred to me what this
pandemic has inflicted on those who are deaf. Shame on me for feeling inconvenienced by this virus when so many others have real issues. Her story was a real wake-up for me and, I hope,
for others.