Vaccination Effective!

One month to the day after I got my first COVID jab, I traveled back to the Bronx to get my second. And yesterday, two weeks after that second vaccination was my isolation liberation day. Yesterday my vaccine became fully effective.

And now I can prove it. I’ve never been so happy to have a little card to carry around with me. That CDC record is my passport back into the world. I can’t remember being this happy when I got my first driver’s license which, by the way, was so long ago it was nothing more than a small piece of cardboard.

The wait was worth it and so was not feeling so great for a day after my second shot. I slept off its effects and imagined, through my fevered dreams, how great it will be to go out. I entertained visions of places to go and things to see. That’s a desire I’ve suppressed for over a year.

Yes! I got the shot!

The possibilities seem endless. Looking at the long list of things I had to give up for isolation, every item on it seems magical. I want to ride the Sea Glass Carousel in Battery Park, visit the new Moynihan Train Hall, walk the High Line, see the Alice Neal exhibit at the Met Museum, take an urban hike across the Brooklyn Bridge … and I want to do it all now.

But I’ve gotten lazy over this year inside and i’m physically out of shape. I’m carrying COVID flab that I’m ashamed of. I doubt I have the stamina for any the outings on my list. I can get that back with some physical work.

Getting back into the world, however might be more or a challenge. It’s not as simple as running out the door. Many places I want to go have occupancy limits or haven’t reopened yet.

But I need to shift my thinking. A year of restrictions has become entrenched within me. Staying in and away from people is my default setting. I hate to admit this, but it has also become convenient. The adventurous part of my mind is stiff and shut off. I need to practice making it limber again, flexible enough to fold possibilities into my thinking.

I also need to remember that the pandemic is not behind us yet.