Postcard from Out There Ripping the Band-aid Off Our Sheltered Pandemic Life Story and Waterlogue Photo Illustration by John H. Ostdick
Jumping back into life among the masses wasn’t as disorienting as we thought it might be, but the new normal doesn’t seem quite so yet. For more than a year, we had adapted. Recoiled. Masked. Zoomed. Back-yard patio visited at a safe distance. Traveled vicariously through reposted social media odysseys. Remained virtually alive in our house by a wooded creek. Post-vaccination, we began to peer around that corner out there again. Started slowly by grocery shopping at seven in the
morning instead of six. Attended outdoor dinners of as many as four couples, reacquainting ourselves with social graces, although not without a lot of repeatedly talking over the other guests with the first notions that popped into our disoriented heads. Friends and family members started booking flights, packing their cars, and heading out there. We knew we weren’t ready to fly yet. Too fast, too soon, too chaotic for the cautiousness that we have become a bit perhaps too chummy with. 13
