Covid-19, Three Years Later

(Originally written in March 2023) 

We are all fully up to date on our recommended vaccines and boosters.  Four Covid shots for each of us over the last three years. 

Whenever we discover an old cloth mask in a coat pocket or a purse or bag, we throw it away.  Disposable masks are still in my car just in case, but I can think of one time in the last six months that we have needed them (visiting the violin shop that is run by two aging brothers). 

Similarly, seeing other people who are still wearing masks is not a big deal.  It's not expected just about anywhere around here anymore, but if someone wants to wear a mask for whatever reason, good for them.  Adam and I had a mild cold a few months back and both opted to wear masks to church.  It makes it easier to breath out of your mouth because your nose is plugged up when no one can see your mouth!

We have resumed making plans for travel and expecting for them to happen.  Airline ticket prices are still high, but I don't think they'll come down again.  Car prices are high, and I don't think they'll come down again.  Real estate prices are high, and I don't think they'll come down again.  Grocery prices are high, and I don't think they'll come down again.  Inflation followed the pandemic and doesn't seem to be going away. 

Jason works a hybrid of at-home and in-office, and probably will forever more.  He is available to help with the home schedule in ways that we never would have imagined pre-pandemic.  He has more flexibility, is able to attend more events, and is just around more than he used to be.  That is probably the biggest blessing we have seen in the wake of the pandemic- the realization that there is more than one way to get work done. 

School is back in full force, and has been for nearly two years now.  Unlike Jason's work, the school schedules and demands are just as strong, if not stronger than they ever were.  There was no long term shift away from the 'one right way' to do school once the pandemic settled down.  But any suspicions I ever had about how much work really gets done in a school day were confirmed in the pandemic, and I still have no qualms about taking the kids out of school as needed.  Thankfully, they're happy there most of the time, so off to school they go every day!

We have all but given up on virtual meet-ups.  The novelty of connecting with friends that we haven't seen in years via Zoom died about two years ago, and we have no hesitations about meeting with people in person whenever we want. Unfortunately that does nothing to nurture our long-distance friendships. 

We have fallen almost entirely back into relying on in-person church to meet our Sabbath day worship.  I just re-instituted our family fast Sunday testimony meeting because it was one of the very best parts of at-home church. If you don't bear your testimony in church, you can bear it at home!

Sometimes at the grocery store I stop and think about how frightening those rows and rows of bare shelves were, how ridiculous it was that people were Clorox-wiping down their groceries, how overwhelming the thought of being around crowds of people in close spaces like grocery aisles was.  

Three years ago, we just didn't know what we were fighting.  The fear and uncertainty was real. And thankfully, over the course of a lifetime, relatively short-lived.