The past couple of weekends, as the weather has gotten warmer I have driven the main drags through downtown Raleigh, and there is definitely a presence as if this thing has been licked. The bars and restaurants are bustling again, and I would put the ratio of masked-to-unmasked to about 20/80. And to be honest, none of this bothers me as it would have a year ago. I still mask up in public, but the last few weeks have seen my guard slip on more than one occasion. I have met a friend for beers, another for a couple of meals, and have even attend a Bitcoin and Beers Meetup event where all decorum was out the door, and it felt like being at an orgy without any condoms. Not that I have frequented orgies. That is where things are with me at least. A lowering of the guard, and so far, my chin has not been rocked by this.
Last Wednesday I was fortunate enough to get my first Pfizer shot at Duke Raleigh Hospital. The prior week I was discouraged that once my Group 4 eligibility was announced on March 31, that it would be hard to get an appointment because all the advertised locations were booked. But an email to my doctor's office, and one form later I was on the waitlist and 3 days later another text with an appointment date time and choice of location. The process was pretty fast, about 10 minutes between me sitting in the waiting room to me getting the shot, then another 15 minutes in the waiting room to confirm I would not convert into a howling wolf. So far so good. I haven't had any discernible side effects other than a sore/scratchy throat that could be attributed to allergy season.
But circling back to YOLO Season, I can sense a giant wave building. People have been cut off from routines and other people so it will be interesting to see what this next year will hold. I know I miss the sights and sounds of people, and that has been something I hadn't felt in awhile. The Spring will feel like a Spring like no other, with this ritual rebirth not just a celebration of enduring 3 or 4 months of brutal weather and circumstance but a whole year of it. I can imagine things being more festive after this past year, and finally celebrations in the air after the calamities of the early Spring virus, and the Summer's protests, and the Fall's election mayhem. I think a lot of people are going to be joyous that they are still here and seek to reclaim the freedom's afforded them. So don't be surprised by a substantial bump in birth and rate, and weddings, and people acting in ways they would have found below their dignity. It's YOLO time.