Post-pandemic joy

Querida Amiga,

We have hit the one-year mark of the pandemic sending us into our homes and narrowing our in-person interactions to small pods of “safe” friends. The news and social streams were full last week with memories of the last days people spent before sheltering in place and businesses started closing down. Memories of dinners with a group of people or their last trip before staying grounded for a year.

I also took some time going down memory lane and remembering my last travels in the weeks leading up to working from home full-time. Moving into the new normal of weekends now spent at home watching movies and entertaining myself with my new love of coloring books.

Though I was wrapped up in the memories for a moment, I struggled to make some deep meaning of how I have evolved over the past year. It has been a year of deep reflection and time to launch desires that have been sitting on my heart. Overall, it has been a year of so much contemplation that I didn’t feel like I could run through it all again to honor an anniversary I am not feeling attached to.

Instead, I find myself daydreaming a lot these days about what is to come. All of the adults in my family (except me) have been vaccinated. That in itself has been a relief and a sign that we just may make it through this as a family. My parents have been my number one concern this past year. They were the ones I traveled with last and I hope to plan a trip with them again next year.

I am hearing from more friends also getting vaccinated and wanting to resurface conversations of travel dreams that we have put on hold. The last couple of weeks have not been so much about pondering the past year as much as feeling optimistic about what I am beginning to see on the horizon. Hanging with groups of friends again with hugs and loud laughter, planning international travel, and also simple pleasures such as working from a coffee shop.

My list for post-pandemic fun is long and a return to the joys I relished on a monthly, sometimes daily basis. Happy hour after work, tickets to see a musical on the weekend, and renting private karaoke rooms for hours of singing our hearts out while gripping microphones and living out our rockstar dreams.

Of course, my post-pandemic dreaming these days includes you. On the horizon, I am seeing dinner parties where we gather for deep introspective conversation, weekend retreats to rest and reflect together, and trips to far-off places where we can adventure together as we explore the exciting dreams our hearts want to unleash.

Soon enough these dreams will be a reality.

Soon enough our joy will be unleashed to expand in new ways.

Can you see it? Can you feel it?

Quiero saber de ti. What life are you dreaming about post-pandemic? How will you be able to expand joy when we emerge from our homes and can gather again?

Un Abrazo, 

Michelle