Is that really some light at the end of the tunnel?

Well, yesterday was the second week-i-versary of Modern Jab #2, so as far as vaccination goes, I'm now as safe from COVID as I'm going to be until they announce the booster shot...

It feels good. It's a relief. Things are definitely moving in the right direction, and if I squint, I can definitely see some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Phew!

Today, I'm planning on my first mani-pedi since last February, and am much looking forward to unraggy cuticles and a professional color job (I'm thinking periwinkle) on my toenails. I will be wearing a double mask, even though I understand that this doesn't really do much of anything. And I'll be hoping for the best. 

Next week, I'm heading back to St. Francis House, New England's largest day shelter, to work a few shifts in the kitchen. I've been helping them out with some blogging, but I haven't been in there for in-person volunteering since March 17, 2020. As I had been spending about 15 hours a week there, it left a big hole in my schedule, which I didn't manage to fill with anything productive. (Am I the only one who had all sorts of plans for the COVID lockdown that didn't quite happen? I did take more naps, but that was about it...) 

I've really missed my work at SFH, and hope I'll be able to get back to a regular schedule soon. (Not sure whether they'll be using volunteers in the Resource Center, which was my main gig. That was mostly handing out soap and toothbrushes, signing people up to use computers, and just generally hanging out shooting the breeze with guests. Hope they're back to using volunteers there!)

In the next week or so, I'm planning on training out to Worcester to visit a cousin I haven't seen much of since the pandemic struck. We had lunch on her porch on the Cape in September. And in December I stood in her doorway outside Worcester to hand her her Christmas and birthday presents. So we're due for an old-time hangout. 

I'm not quite ready to eat indoors at a restaurant, but if it's nice and there's a porch open somewhere, I'm hoping we can eat out.

Gradually, I'm making plans to see other friends who've been text and Zoom buddies for the past year.

My bubble - for anything indoors, that's been my sibs and nieces - is great, but I'll be happy to expand it.

And I won't really breathe a sigh of relief until all my friends and family members have been vaccinated. We're getting there, but it can't happen quickly enough.

But I'm not taking off my mask anytime soon.

Not until they blow the all clear whistle.

I'm hoping that they'll be able to say shortly that, if you're outside walking around, you don't need to be wearing a mask. Of late, I've noticed a few people without them. My area had been about 99.9999% mask compliant, so sightings of mask-less scofflaws have been rare. Now, I'm seeing a bit more of it. That's outdoors. I can't remember any instance since the mask mandate began when I've seen anyone trying to go without one in a CVS or grocery store.

As for now, I'm thinking that, whatever happens, next winter I'll still be wearing a mask when I'm in a store. Common cold and flu protection! So I'll be hanging on to all the masks - plain and fancy - I've acquired over the past year.

And, of course, I'm hoping that pretty soon they'll figure out that the vaccinations are effective against the variants. 

And I'm hoping that most of the vaccination oppo a-holes will come around. (I'm guessing that a lot of them are just doing the opposite of virtue signaling when they say 'hell no.')

It'll be a while before I get on a plane, but at least I'm beginning to imagine it. Ditto for a Red Sox game in person. I rarely go the movies, anyway, so I'm not missing that.

Anyway, there's a lot of pluses to count:

It's spring. The flowering trees are in bloom. Baseball is back. There's more light at the end of the day. And there really is some light at the end of the tunnel. 

Hooray!