Re-Entry

"There are no rules."  That's the mantra that's pretty much gotten me through the past 12 months.

I saw it on line - I   don't recall if it was a meme or a text post; I don't recall if it was Facebook or Instagram or Reddit.  But the point of the message was that this pandemic, with its lockdown, social distancing, and work from home, is difficult enough for everyone without some random rules about how you're supposed to survive imposed on you by others.

Stay up until 3 am and then sleep until noon?  It's alright - there are no rules on waking/sleeping hours during a pandemic.  Eat the same dish three days in a row?  It's up to you - there are no rules.  Some people spent their time redecorating their homes and finally tackling those long-delayed home-improvement projects; others didn't do anything remotely like that and instead spent all their time online and playing video games.  Either way, it's alright - there is no right way or wrong way to pass the time during a pandemic, as there are no rules.

"Whatever gets you through the night, it's alright," John Lennon once sang, and the same is true for the pandemic - whatever gets you through the long days of isolation, it's alright.  There are no rules. Meditation or masturbation - it's up to you.  Booze binging or sobriety - your choice. Netflix or book reading - there are no rules.

We aren't through the pandemic yet, but the outlook is quite good right now and the end is in sight.  I've already been fully vaccinated - two injections of the Moderna vaccine - and I wryly noticed that I got my second injection before Dolly Parton got her first, and she's older than me and donated one million of her own dollars toward research for the Moderna vaccine. Nice to see that at least one celebrity didn't jump to the front of the line to get vaccinated, although she probably had a better alibi than almost anyone.

But now that I'm vaccinated, how do I go back to "normal" life?  Do I even remember what "normal" was?  I had retired a mere nine months before the quarantines started and was still adjusting to my own personal new normal, and then suddenly had a newer new normal to which to adjust.

I know that despite the vaccine, I'm still capable of potentially spreading the virus to others, so I still wear a mask when out in public, but that was never a big issue to me.  But I used to try to minimize the number of times I went out grocery shopping and tried to buy two to three weeks worth of provisions each time I went out, and then go without some supplies as they ran out for as long as possible. But just the other day, when I was out at the store, it dawned on me that I didn't have to buy everything right now.  I could just buy what I needed and come back later as it suited my needs.  

Bars and restaurants are still mostly only offering take-out service, so going out for a post-vaccination celebration isn't really practical.  And of course, we're still many months away from live music, and even further from crowding together in a small sweaty club to hear some new band crank out a set.

I'm glad I'm vaccinated, but I guess what I'm trying to say is I've gotten so used to my newer new normal life as an urban monk, that I've forgotten what it means not to be a hermit anymore.