Pre-post-pandemic predicament

To the editor:

I am so happy to have made it through a year of confinement. I am vaccinated, but am awaiting vaccinations for my family. I am not sure that I am ready to travel to see them, California and Florida. I am hopeful it will happen.

So what to do? It is perplexing, and I waver in the possibilities.

We had a friend to dinner the other evening. Maybe we are going for St. Patrick’s Day to friends. Maybe we are having a small Seder. These today are “allowed.” Tomorrow? Who can ever say much about any tomorrow anyway? We can just hope.

I am so perplexed why the world is not jumping on vaccines. I remember polio. I waited with my family for hours to get the shot. We would not have questioned it.

What’s different? It scares me. It threatens me.

What will happen to the Zooms as we get more and more freedom? I made friends on that venue. I might not see them again, those who live far away.

I learned to paint better. To write more. To read different kinds of books. To get involved in British television.

I bird-watched and walked the Riverdale neighborhoods, all the nooks and crannies. Soon I’ll get in my hardly ever used car and venture further and further.

I will miss what has become my “new normal.” I will have to dress differently. I might put on makeup again. I will put on jewelry. I confess I did not miss those things, but those are so much a part of our lives again.

I will continue to write to the paper, maybe not anymore about the COVID-19 conundrum. But there’s a world to write about.

And so, I leave you with the questions. I’m confused about it. But again, we’ll all help each other get over it.

Thanks for being there. All of you.

Judith Veder

Have an opinion? Share your thoughts as a letter to the editor. Make your submission to letters@riverdalepress.com. Please include your full name, phone number (for verification purposes only), and home address (which will not be published). The Riverdale Press maintains an open submission policy, and stated opinions do not necessarily represent the publication.