After a year in which we had a new virus and no way to fight it except with masks, social distancing, and staying isolated, having an effective vaccine is a game-changer for sure Last year my friends and I hiked nearly every Sunday None of us had access to the vaccine, and some of us are over 65 years old We put on masks and quizzed each other about our carefulness in avoiding groups and people outside our households We got lucky; none of us ever tested positive for Covid-19 Now we are all vaccinated and boosted, and we get into each others' cars and drive out to the wilderness areas together with barely a qualm Last Sunday I invited two new people to join our group One of the more careful members of our group asked whether the additional people had been vaccinated They had, and we had a wonderful time on a beautiful winter day
January 24, 2022
For the first four months of the pandemic, I was in lockdown in Spain, my husband's home country, and he was in lockdown in the US. It was very strange. We were each looking after each other's mothers. I came back a few weeks ago to the US and we had two weeks together. The first week we couldn't relate to each other. Our experiences were so radically different, he could not understand mine nor express his. After much fighting and crying and drinking and melting down, we finally got to a better place. We had a nice week together. And then he left to go see his mom. Over six months we will have been together two weeks, one of them bad. I feel like a military spouse, which I know isn't fair--I wasn't fighting or in danger, but it does feel like we are under siege, especially here, in the US, where there is so much uncertainty and it feels like we have all been left to fend for ourselves. In Spain, it wasn't like that. The Government took control and told everyone what to do. And mostly, people did it, because their concern was for their neighbor and family and the greater good of society. I cannot relate to the individualistic attitudes here, because these attitudes and behaviors damage other people. ...
July 9, 2020