We’re so Close to Normal

By JoAnn Schauf

This morning my favorite coffee shop owners took the chairs off the tables and welcomed us to come in, sit down, and have a beverage on them. I’m in my usual spot writing to you – just like old times. Outside the rain pelts and the skies rumble – no one cares – it feels so good to be sipping a hot chai latte here.

We’ve turned a corner! The cases of and deaths from COVID-19 are down in the US. We feel our anxiety fall as the vaccination rates rise. Our hearts don’t forget those still suffering, swept in waves of the virus peaking around the globe. We know their pain; it was our pain.

I know you are thrilled, like me, for the class of 2021 because they get to participate in the long-held tradition of marching into arenas, fields, and gymnasiums to Pomp and Circumstance. This earned rite of passage during a pandemic is theirs and their families to savor. Congratulations!

Almost normal looks good on us. It feels even better hugging each other, making travel plans, and celebrating birthdays in restaurants. For years to come, in fact, for the rest of our lives, we will remember the hardships of the shutdown. We can’t romanticize it, for it was agonizing, and we struggled. We must still be cautious and careful so one day soon, we can each claim, “I survived a pandemic!”    

©JoAnn Schauf, MS, LLC Your Tween & You  2021 All rights reserved