This Feels Familiar

It's not quite like March, 2020, but it's not unlike it, either.

Due to my clientele, I've spent a lot of time listening to MDH briefings this week, and that information has made me dial back activities a little more each day. It's been really hard to tell friends who I promised I would get together with after the holidays that I'm just not going out right now, to watch theaters cancel shows *again,* and to try to make all kinds of changes on the fly. (As I was typing this, people we really want to see, who are basically in our pod, just texted to see if we wanted to meet up, and it was yet another "no" from me.)

But, as Patrick and I describe it, I feel like I'm in a game of "Covid Battleship" and there are already 3 pegs on my aircraft carrier...

It may or may not be possible to avoid covid entirely at this point, and the fact that our family has not gotten sick yet has been more luck than anything else. But, given that current CDC guidance puts those who have not had a shot (initial or booster) within 6 months in the same category/risk level as unvaccinated, I've been most focused on getting past Beatrix's booster. We had an appointment for her last Wednesday night, but CDC/state approval did not come through in time, so it was put off until last night. I suppose it's good that we had cancelled activities like her Norwegian dance, because she's been asleep all day recovering. Within a few days, I'll at least feel better about her exposure, though who knows how infection levels — and thus my worries — will change in the next few days.

And I keep reminding myself that, as I've said before, everyone is doing the best they can even if it's not the best that can be done. Everyone has different ways of dealing, different risk levels, different ways they are facing this, different fears. We might look at people's social media and wonder why they are making the choices they make, without knowing what they are giving up in order to do that activity (or how nervous it might be making them).

I think the next little while might be one of the hardest parts. So a reminder (because I needed it today for sure) to treat other people gently, and without assuming intent. We're going to need each other to make it through this.

(But get vaccinated if you haven't already!)