HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: So, how are you doing? Are you…venturing out?
I feel kind of like a little prairie dog, poking my head up out over my burrow and saying…
what’s going on out there? It’s strange--I’ve been fully vaccinated for several months now, and still I'm full of apprehensiveness venturing out.
We went to a friend's house for dinner, inside, all good.
And the grocery store and the hardware store, the dry cleaners and the doctor and things like that. Still, it feels that every once-ordinary activity is fraught with who knows what.
Well, I guess we do know what.
I was reading the other day that there are people called re-entry coaches, who are experts in counseling people on how to get back into the world. The coaches emphasize doing “intentional activities.” Which I guess means no more doom-scrolling or roaming randomly around Instagram.
There are special coaches for kids, too. One suggested taking your child on a walk in the park first, so they got acclimated to being around other people. Then gradually doing more things, like going to a museum, where they were actually inside with people.
Isn’t that even strange?
But on so many levels it’s unsettling. Plus, I have no idea what to wear. And if I did know what to wear, I wouldn’t have that.
It seems like the rules, whatever the rules are, are different, and we are all trying to figure out what they are. Do we just go back to how we were before? Exactly how we were before? Just forget everything happened and forget we lost an entire year and a half?
And what about the people who have completely different life than I do? I’m a solitary person professionally, a writer, privileged enough to be able to stay home. That haunts me.
I keep having this vision of the good witch in the Wizard of Oz, played by Billie Burke, right? Tapping her wand on the trembling munchkins and singing” come out come out...”
How about you Reds and readers? Are you feeling like trembling munchkins? Or champing at the bit? And..do you know what to wear?
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I feel like I know what to wear, but I seem to have completely forgotten how to put on lipstick. Every time I wear it out of the house it feels like I’m doing it wrong.
I’m feeling very confident in the vaccine and more importantly, in its ability to keep me from accidentally spreading Covid-19 to others, so I’m in “going with the flow” mode. I always have a mask or two with me; if a place of business asks to use it, I’ll pop it on. If I’m going somewhere new, I’ll wear a mask until I see the lay of the land. My church is fully reopened but is asking everyone to wear masks for the sake of the children, who of course don’t have an approved vaccine yet. That makes good sense to me, and I’ll continue to mask up if I’m going to be around under-16s.
But I’m looking forward to summer theater, and baseball games, and restaurants, so put me in the champing at the bit category!
JENN McKINLAY: I’m out and about. I’ve even flown across the country. Hub is a professional musician, so he’s been gigging hard for a couple of months now (once his vaccine kicked in) and I go to his shows when I can as i’m also fully vaccinated. People do seem a bit more keyed up and we’ve watched some seriously cray-cray behavior. Roaring 20’s, anyone?
I always have a mask just in case I come across someone who’d be more comfortable if I wore one, but otherwise...what pandemic?
HALLIE EPHRON: I’ll still wear my mask, thanks very much. And eat outdoors at restaurants if I go at all. After so many months with not so much as a cold or flu or even a sneeze that wasn’t inspired by pollen, I feel completely vulnerable (even if not to Covid). Nope. I need another few weeks… maybe even months to feel assured that this thing isn’t going to come around and bite us in our collective asses.
LUCY BURDETTE: I would say that I fall somewhere in the middle of Jenn and Hallie. We have loved being able to go out a little, see friends who are vaccinated without feeling terrified. But I always have a mask with me and wear it when I’m inside shops and stores, such as the grocery store, the local bookstore, the hardware store. Like Hallie, I’m not convinced we’ve seen the end of this plague.
And I do like not having been sick this year. And certainly when we travel, which we’ve done a little of and plan to do more, I will absolutely wear a mask and bath in hand sanitizer while enroute. John’s family has a reunion this summer, and I do worry about the kids. Hopefully a vaccine that is safe for children will come along soon!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: We are getting out and about. I’ve had lunch/brunch several times with my daughter, but I have to admit the one time it was inside AND crowded I was not very comfortable. Much better with open patios! I wear a mask in stores, but not at outside events like the farmer’s market. Still lots of hand washing and sanitizers. I’m not convinced we won’t see vaccine resistant variants, and I have loved not having had so much as a sniffle this last year and a half. I’ll be so happy when the five-year-old granddaughter can get her vaccine, too.
I’m beginning to figure out what to wear, but the first couple of months back in the world were a real struggle!
RHYS BOWEN: I think we are lucky that we have a solitary profession so our lives weren’t so different, apart from being fearful when we went out.
I live in a county that has the highest vaccination percentage in California so I feel quite safe. We have had friends to dinner, taken a trip to Monterey and stayed in a B and B, been to an art exhibit and will be hosting a brunch for graduating grandson here ( outside in our patio). But we have been cautious about dining indoors and still wear masks in stores.
I hear you about deciding what to wear. I am so used to choosing a nice top, knowing that nobody can see the shorts beneath it.
HANK: Isn’t that crazy? And all my shoes, lined up on the shelves, wondering why I haven’t worn them for 15 months. Are we going back to heels? The New York Times says yes.
And the mask thing is so strange. The mask is so YOU don’t give covid to someone else. If we know we don’t have it, why are WE wearing them? To encourage the unvaccinated to do so?
How about you, Reds and readers? Are you feeling prairie dog?
