It’s Been a Year

 It’s been over a year of us living in these pandemic conditions.  A year of social distancing and masks.  A year of hand sanitizer and family gatherings via Zoom.

This year has been hard.  It started out with constant worry over if I was going to get COVID and die.  Then it was the extreme sense of isolation.

Now people are being vaccinated.  The rates of infection are down.

But I worry that the vaccinations won’t do well against the new variants.  I worry that the Qanon set won’t vaccinate in numbers high enough to get us to herd immunity.

I worry that we’ll have to social distance and wear masks for the rest of our lives.

Mostly, I’m living under this black cloud.  I feel like I’m forever on the verge of tears.  I thrive on hits and cuddles and touch.  I thrive in in person visits.  Sitting piled on the couch.

All thing things that make me feel Human and sane have been absent for over a year.

Today, the weather is nasty.  I have a pesky case of Tennis Elbow.  So everything seems extra gloomy right now.

I know there is hope on the horizon.  People are being vaccinated by the thousands.

But today, the hope is dimmed.