Vaccine #2

Second shot done. I'm incredibly grateful and also will continue on with life in not terribly different fashion, which feels weird but also right. Why?

Partly because the gulf between what life was like before and what it's like now is just so massive. I'm taking my time and being really intentional about re-entry. This is a good thing. One tiny thing I have returned to is my bold lip, which makes me really happy.

Partly because the pandemic shattered my trust in humans. It's sad that when I see unmasked people, my first thought isn't, "Oh, yay! They must be vaccinated!" it's "I wonder if they're antivaxxers and antimaskers. Time to cross the street." This sucks. I'm trying to work on moving the needle with these feelings while also continuing to protect myself and my family.

And partly because one of my kids is under 12, so, I'm in the same position as many families where some but not all of us are vaccinated so I'm maintaining a protective stance and also one of solidarity. Because seriously, it is insane that we're expecting the youngest among us to continue to do the hard shit. Maybe this is just what being a mama bear is, but it's hard for me to 100% celebrate when one of my cubs isn't protected.

I'm going to take tomorrow off and here's my out of office auto-responder: "Thanks for your message! I'm OOO making space for any recovery needs post-vaccine. If you know of people who have not yet gotten their Covid-19 vaccine, please urge them to do so. Find a location near you at https://www.vaccines.gov/"

Please urge everyone you know to get their vaccine.