I’m not going to lie. Things are starting to open up more, and I am terrified. I hear the experts saying that with the number of people who have had Covid-19, and the number who are now vaccinated, that it is possible to start doing some of those things we were told to avoid for the last year. But I don’t know who has or hasn’t been vaccinated in most cases. Our youngest is in fifth grade and her school is going to start offering in-person learning again next week. It isn’t mandatory, and so we are keeping her in remote for now. However, this is giving me great anxiety about when they do make it mandatory. And there’s an argument between the teacher’s union and the school district and maybe the city on whether teachers have to report whether or not they have been vaccinated. While I respect people’s medical privacy and all, I really am on the side supporting requiring this information to be public. If I have to decide whether to allow my child go sit in an enclosed room with someone, I would like that information.
Yesterday I overheard the City Counsel meeting and someone was pushing for them to go back to in-person meetings, and I almost had a panic attack. This would definitely mean that my husband would be required to go back to the office, at least on meeting days. Do you have any idea how many people work in City Hall? Also, he’d have to commute downtown. So either we would be paying gobs of money for parking, or he’d have to use public transit. I am definitely not ready for the L yet. That place was a cesspool of germs in normal times. Yes, I’m a bit crazy. But yes, I did love using the L despite knowing how dirty it was. I just didn’t wear white.
And just so we at least talk a little about food, restaurants are being allowed to offer more indoor dining again. They started a couple of weeks ago with being able to have up to 25% capacity or a maximum of 25 people. Now they have 50 or 40% capacity. I love restaurants. I love sitting at the bar in one of my favorite restaurants and ordering cocktails or wine and appetizers for dinner. However, I am not eager to go to a restaurant yet. I mean, yes, I want their food, and so I do takeout, but I could not emotionally handle actually sitting at the bar in an enclosed space with up to 49 other people yet.
The bottom line is that I feel like everyone is rushing toward “back to normal,” and I am still totally wanting to be in my little bubble. The rational side of me knows that this is partially just my own mental health issue. However, I feel like we’ve had so many times when they rushed to open things, and then we had huge spikes in numbers and they had to pull back. I’m just terrified that knowing we have vaccines, and that eventually enough people will get them, is making some people rush a little much, and it’s going to have dire consequences.
Okay, I’m done going on my crazy spell here. I’m going to get this next meeting done and then order some takeout.
Foodie's Delimma 