This evening I was walking in to the dining room, and I commented that we were probably going to have to get a new gas cylinder for our Soda Stream, and I was struck by how that had been one of the more terrifying bits of the pandemic for me - going to stand in a line at Kroger to get a replacement cylinder. It felt like I was risking my life to get some bubbly water. And now it doesn't. I'm sure there will be many more moments like this, where I am struck by how much life was changed.
I commented on this to Sasha, about how the pandemic was a globally unifying experience, and what a break there would be, as the years pass, between the people who lived through it and those who didn't. She reminded me of all our conservative neighbors who didn't stop socializing, and who weren't ever afraid, because the disease was a hoax perpetrated by (various people for various conspiracy reasons). I remember seeing them, out and about as I drove by, eating in restaurants as I stood outside, etc. What is the story they will tell about these years when so many died?