Trying to Feel Normal

 

8/10/21 Fellow shopper at north Seattle Costco

Last week we shopped inside a Costco store for the first time in 17 months. We have been getting Instacart and shipped deliveries from Costco all along, but we had not gone inside a store since early March 2020 (I remember that shopping trip vividly, filled with anxiety). Friends have encouraged me to take advantage of the early “senior hours,” but I had decided that if I stayed out of stores, I was making it easier and safer for others who may not have the luxury of isolation. The Costco where we shop was comfortably uncrowded at the general opening time, and I was relieved to see that most shoppers and all staff were masked.

8/11/21 Awful Knofel performing at Maple Leaf Ice Cream Social

The next day we attended the Maple Leaf Ice Cream Social, an annual neighborhood event that we have always enjoyed when we’ve been in town for it (unfortunately, we missed some years because we so often travel during the summer, and of course, it was cancelled last year). It was the most crowded event we’ve attended in more than two years. Since Maple Leaf is within one of the most highly vaccinated zip codes in the state, I felt relatively safe, especially outdoors. As I scarfed down my Dove ice cream bar before it melted, I looked around at my mostly mask-free neighbors, no one socially distanced, and I marveled at the difference the vaccine has made in all our lives. I was not without some residual anxiety, however, given that infections from the Delta variant are skyrocketing in King County and worldwide. I tried not to think about that, though, as we enjoyed the music of the band Awful Knofel.

These two sketches may not look like much, but they are important documentation of my ongoing transition through the various phases of the pandemic. I call this phase, “trying to feel normal.”