Life is weird right now. The pandemic is not over, but it seems more controlled, at least from where I’m standing. Restrictions are being lifted, more or less so, depending on where you are. As Justin says every time we venture into public, “I don’t know what the rules are!” I can’t say that I do either.
We’re still putting masks on when we go into stores, even though the CDC said, if you’re vaccinated, you’re OK without one except in specific, high-density indoor situations. When at a Lowes in Delaware, probably only 50% of other shoppers wore masks. In our local grocery store and at the local Kohls and then Target this past weekend, most people seemed to still have masks on. Some people walking around my neighborhood are still wearing them regularly, but most do not in that situation. We went to New Jersey yesterday for Justin’s nephew’s birthday party, and we had no idea if they have a different mask requirement than Pennsylvania does. Two weeks ago, when we went out to dinner, our server said that we, as vaccinated customers did not have to wear our masks, but the staff still would for a while longer. The other night, we went to another restaurant that had a sign on the hostess stand saying any fully vaccinated person, patron or staff, could wear a mask or not while inside.
Supposedly, the veterinary hospital I work at is reopening to clients in a few weeks. I’m still waiting on receiving “the plan” for that, so I don’t know any details. I just keep hearing bits and pieces in a very confusing whisper-down-the-lane type of situation that I find incredibly frustrating. Some of the information that I’ve heard just makes me scratch my head and wonder who exactly it’s supposed to benefit and how. In at least one case, I heard one thing a week ago and then a few days ago that, in fact, that thing would not be happening. Some of it just seems like extra work that maybe isn’t necessary, but then I don’t yet know what is or isn’t true and therefore don’t know what to expect or how to feel. Justin, I know, is experiencing something very similar as his company prepares to bring more staff back on site with regularity in the next month or so. I’m sure we aren’t the only ones going through this turmoil.
I just wish, as a whole, that there was a more uniform consensus on how to approach getting back to “normal.” The disconnect from one place to another, whether different businesses or neighboring states doesn’t have to exist, does it? I wish there was better communication about the next steps, both on smaller and larger scales, and about what is expected of me and everyone else right now. It’s unnecessarily stressful as I wonder if I remember how to have a face-to-face consult with a client, whether clients will be happier/less angry/more rational to be present with their pets (or will more of them than I expect be like the party guest I talked to yesterday that said she hoped it never went back; she loves curbside service), how long will I live with mixed emotions about when and where to take my mask off inside, will life really revert back to the way it was pre-pandemic? What did I used to do with my time before lockdown?
I feel like the world needs to re-calibrate as we continue to climb out of the depths pandemic life. I’m forever grateful to NOT be house-hunting right now, as that sounds insanely miserable. If I want to replace a worn tank top that I have, I can’t find my size either online or in a store. We don’t think we should be doing extensive home projects right now because the cost of lumbar is astronomical. I have no desire to attempt to go to the beach this summer because I know absolutely everyone else will be there. Does that maybe mean I can finally go back to my favorite local hiking spots and have room for my car in the parking lot, or is everyone else still going to be there as well?
These are the things weighing most heavily on my mind this week. For today, I’m just doing what I think are normal things like bathing my dogs, balancing my checkbook, getting in a workout, doing some laundry and half dreading going to work tomorrow because I’d just rather not. Maybe I’ll like that prospect better when I know WTF is going on there? Really, I’d just like to have a lot of money drop into my lap and go hide in the middle of nowhere, lost among some trees, for a while (and by “a while” I do mean longer than a standard one week vacation, in case that needed any clarification).
“I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion.” ~ Jack Kerouac
