So I wrote 2 or 3 posts over the last month about rejoining society and none of them seem to say much of anything. Everyone in our bubble has received our vaccines and we are starting to venture back into the world. There are a few things that I have learned over the last year

I love traveling and I have missed it – Over the last 2 weeks or so, we have started booking travel for both work and fun. I have missed the interesting dinners in new cities, beds full of hotel pillows (I just use one at home), and the excitement of doing business in person. I am ready to get back on the road, mark and hand sanitizer at the ready!

We do make time and space for the things that are important – Over the last 15 months, we have continued to do some small activities and see a handful of people locally. If something is important to us, we have set up the parameters to be able to make it work. We even snuck in a two quick mini trips to Vegas. We felt safer in Vegas than anywhere else and we were able to keep our distance while traveling. When we came home, we quarantined and tested after a week of being home. While this wasn’t the right choice for everyone, we felt like we needed some extra sunshine by a pool.

The grocery store closest to us is garbage… Grocery stores were our only outing for a while there and we learned a lot about our local stores. Out of sheer convenience, we have always gone to the grocery store that is just one mile from our house. What we have learned is that convenience in our case is definitely not quality. When the pandemic was at the highest point, the store in our neighborhood turned into a miserable place to be. Overworked staff, less than stellar fresh food, short hours at the meat and deli counters, and awful people to deal with (fellow shoppers included). So now when we plan our menu and trips to the store, we make sure that we are buying from stores that care about the product and service they provide.

Overall, we are ready to cautiously rejoin “normal” society. We will continue to wear our masks when asked and probably even when we aren’t. I don’t 2021 is going to look like a “normal” year but at least we are moving in the right direction.