Again?

We've made it to the 2021 holiday season. Some of the past year actually felt a bit more "normal" especially after we got our vaccine and then our COVID booster shots. But the "cloud" of uncertainty always seemed to be hanging just over the horizon. We remained careful as we went into stores.....masks in place. We went to a few movies....choosing the early show where few others attended and sitting in the back row....masks in place. We took our RV out to visit Wisconsin State Parks during the summer and we even got on a plane (masked) to visit friends in Alaska in August. We ate at a few restaurants but almost always outside in the summer and inside one of the sidewalk "bubbles" as the weather got colder. We spent time with also-vaccinated family and friends. After feeling so isolated for much of 2020, we realized just how much this in-person time meant as we laughed over a game of dominoes, or shared a meal. These were things we took for granted prior to an invisible virus that spread around our world and shook everyone (well almost everyone) out of their everyday worlds.

Preparing to share holidays with family and friends we bought gifts, unpacked holiday attire and searched for those favorite traditional recipes. We attended a Christmas concert, we mailed cards and packages, we decorated our apartment. What fun to look forward to celebrating the holidays again!

But yesterday the drum beat of warnings began to get louder.....the new Omicron variant was much more contagious than the previous two COVID versions......and it was spreading faster. A concert in Australia was considered a super spreader event. Businesses and schools started to shut down again. Broadway lights went out. Hospital wards were filling up and medical staff was exhausted. The warning came that if you were going to be sharing a meal or a day inside with family and friends you should wear masks, open windows for ventilation and maybe....just maybe re-think your plans.

I find myself sort of operating at "half mast"....feeling discouraged and sad and also really furious at all of the US citizens who absolutely refuse this "government interference" and won't get vaccinated. I realize some people, a very small percentage, cannot take the vaccine due to health conditions. However, most of these fools do not have any reason other than "You can't MAKE me!" So the hospitalizations and deaths continue....and in my today-frustration I think that this new variant will continue to thin "their" herd. Maybe someday we'll reach herd immunity just because so many of the deniers are dead. Not a very Christmas-y sentiment....but it is the way I feel.

Bah humbug to everyone who refuses to get the vaccine.