We're about ten days from the one year anniversary of this thread. What a ride. It was just about a year ago that I was in a restaurant in Ferndale Michigan, and I was looking around at all the patrons who, by their actions, hadn't really been following the news. I told my wife, "I kind of wish I was them, they obviously have no idea how this is all about to change." But here we are. We were super paranoid at first but a few months in we just started going about our lives as before, but with more precautions, determined to not lose ourselves in trying to protect ourselves. Now I'm on a couch at my in-laws in Bogota, Colombia, while back then we were scared we wouldn't ever see them again as they aren't the healthiest, and who knew how a country like this would handle a pandemic? Turns out, better than our own country in many respects (except for vaccine acquisition). Unlike a year ago, I went to get coffee this morning and sat in the coffee shop. I ate lunch at a restaurant yesterday, on their patio outside in the sun. And I'm not washing bags of potato chips I bring inside with disinfectant. We've been to the fancy mall here about 4 times in two weeks, just strolling around... everybody, again, in masks and hand sanitizer everywhere but not hiding inside 24/7. Back then, the first time I went to the grocery store I dressed like Darth Vader. This morning, we walked in with our cloth masks, sanitized our hands, and just got tomatoes and left, without much thought. My parents got their second dose of the vaccine a few days ago. My sister, a teacher for special-needs kids, just got her first dose last week. It's pretty amazing that there are MULTIPLE vaccines for this thing a year into it.
So here we are. Onward into year two! Keep on keepin' on.....