Proceed with caution

To the editor:

I have read that France is inviting us back. I have a good friend there who I’d love to see.

Airlines are welcoming us, even though we now will sit closer than before. My masks are not being shelved.

My son from Los Angeles, who I haven’t seen since the beginning of this, planned a visit. I hope to see the other son, too. And, of course, the two grandkids.

But I am wary. Cautious. You? I am not quite ready “to pack those bags and get ready to go …”

It has been a long haul, longer it seems for us “seniors” with less on the outtake than the start. This is not a negative.

I struggle with that half-empty, half-full stuff. But this is what I think, after all this time, someone like me should be thinking about: Proceed with caution.

I have been “languishing.” I am tired of my Zooms — painting, writing, book groups, etc. I am tired of FaceTime. I want to see those folks in the flesh, to reach out and touch them.

The weather is warm. The flowers are out. Maybe the mask can live below my chin for a while.

I actually went to Cape May to see the red knots (birds) devour the eggs of horseshoe crabs on the beaches, tanking up for their migration.

I saw more birds and people than I had seen in more than a year, and slept in a hotel bed for the first time over that period as well.

I was nervous. I even ate inside a restaurant.

Things are changing. I welcome that change, but slowly and carefully.

The pool in my building is opening. No outsiders. We will be distanced, but visible.

Johnson Avenue is welcoming diners. It is crowded.

My building’s elevator now allows four people.

We are making progress. Let’s do more. Let’s try to get some of our holdout folks vaccinated. Let’s share this joyful reopening together. Safely.

Judith Veder

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