Got our 2nd Pfizer shots yesterday, and like so much of life it was the best and worst of times.

The best? Protection from the evil C19 for my Captor and I, and life can now return to ‘normal’. (I was hoping for some ‘vaccine envy’, as I’m rarely, if ever, envied, but not so much).  

The worst? Protection from the evil C19 for my Captor and I, and life can now return to ‘normal’.

It leaves me wondering – and dreading –NOW WHAT?

The captain has turned off the seat belt light and we are free to move about the cabin…but it’s so much easier to just stay in one’s seat and enjoy the movie and snacks. That’s what the last year has been – staying in our seats and enjoying the movie(s) and snacks.

But with the protection afforded by the vaccine, we are going to have to make choices again, have to re-take control of our lives. And unfortunately, the part of our brain that controls our ‘outside life’ function has atrophied from non-use the past year.

To help figure out what to do next, I went to the self-help section of the internet. There are some great ‘starting over’ books and articles, which include:                                                                           

“Waking up from a coma – what to wear”,                                                                                                        “So, out of prison on parole – – is it really safe to eat in a restaurant again?”,                                            “Home from Army service in a war zone, places in downtown Chicago to avoid”,                                        For kids:                                                                                                                          “School is in-person again, fun science fair projects that involve year old cafeteria food.”                          For teachers:                                                                                                                          “School is in-person again, meditation methods to make the classroom feel like your recent Caribbean vacation”                                                                                

But as I thought about my options, I recalled that the man my Captor calls “The Governor” has been helpful in planning our social life throughout the Pandemic. He re-opened the beaches so we could walk each day; he re-opened bowling alleys and tattoo parlors early in the crisis, allowing my Captor and I to recreate our first date; and made cocktails to go legal. The last thing made going to Church and the dentist worthwhile again.

So, in some ways he has been like a Surrogate Father, or a formally dressed cruise director. I know he will be fine with the vaccinated not wearing masks, but the fear of being labeled a “Mask-hole” makes me nervous. I know he would be fine with attending a WNBA game, but no one does that. And I know he would be fine with attending square dances at the local nursing home, but now that we’re healthy, we may not be allowed in.

Some practical tax advice – if NY State merely “delayed the reporting of accurate data related to nursing homes” – then if the IRS gives you any trouble about your return, tell them you’ve “delayed the accurate reporting” of your income and expenses.

But the ultimate solution to ‘what to do now’, may be to just lie and let people think we’ve been unable to get a vaccine appointment, which will give us more time to formulate our new social life, and more time for the movies and snacks we haven’t had time to finish.

I thought I knew why the “caged bird sings”, since it had once been free and that memory would sustain it during captivity.                                                                     But I now believe that the caged bird sings because it likes being caged – a life without choice is a thing worth celebrating!

And that will be my first choice: to miss the absence of choice!

TO ENHANCE YOUR READING ENJOYMENT, PAIR THIS POST WITH THE FOLLOWING SONGS:               Mama Don’t Allow no guitar playing in here    JJ Cale                                                                            “We don’t care what Mama don’t allow, gonna play our guitars anyhow”

Florida  Modest Mouse                                                                                              “Oh, it took so much effort, not to make an effort”

Lost on the River (#12)  Elvis Costello written by Dylan                                          “I got lost on the river, but I didn’t drown; I got lost on the river but I got found”

This tornado loves you   Neko Case                                                                             “I have waited with a glacier’s patience”

And for Dr. Seuss lovers:

Invisible Man  Elvis Costello                                                                               “There’s a good film showing tonight, where they hang everyone who can read and write, That could never happen here, but then again it might…”

One comment

  1. Interesting take. There is an odd liberation in shutting out and shutting down — and then we get busy on the essential stuff. We sit quietly. We look inward. We have revelations. We search for the remote. Cloistered nuns and monks in secluded monasteries, purposely inaccessible through normal means of conveyance, offer a more enriched life for their self-committed inhabitants. And the monks make beer and pretzels! Not all bad. And I am guessing they now have Netflix. Some monasteries offer retreats for laymen to quiet their minds and enrich their souls. Dolores Hart left a meteoric Hollywood career and a devoted fiancé for her life in a cloistered nunnery. Constraints can be liberating, as any tortured former Catholic schoolboy knows. The forced celibacy of a virtually all-male Notre Dame was in some ways my salvation — I didn’t have too many distractions from my studies. And I read books — and looked inward. As Joplin sang, and Kristofferson wrote, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” And Kristofferson in some “down time” discovered John Prine. But that’s a story for another time. On April 7th, it will be one year since we lost Jon Prine to Covid-19. So, thank God we are taming this beast — and congrats on your liberation. And may you be inspired by the model of Red from “The Shawshank Redemption”. He learned how to be a free person again.

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