So here we are, another year gone. 

For me the year brought lots of confusion.  Just when I thought were coming out of the pandemic, it circled back.  I really believed herd immunity would happen as myself and most of my friends got vaccinated.  Then it changed to also adding a booster shot. Most people I know got that as well, including me.  It seems like two steps forward, three steps back. 

From the beginning of this, way back is 2020, the rules didn’t make sense to me.  We closed salons and restaurants.  These are places, that people are naturally social distancing.  It would have been easy to implement some simple rules such as one client as a time for salons and moving tables farther apart for restaurants.  We did eventually get there however many salons and restaurants closed.  From the beginning big box stores, like Walmart were allowed to stay open.  We know that children aren’t affected nearly as  badly   as adults, yet we still mandate that they wear masks during school and sporting events.  I can’t imagine going to school or competing in an event and not having the ability to see the look of approval or an encouraging smile from my teacher or coach.

I’m grateful, that I don’t have children in school because I would struggle with making them wear masks.  I started to feel a little more freedom when vaccinated people were allowed in stores without masks.  I always felt that while we were forced to wear masks peoples changed.  There was a look of fear and suspicion in people’s eyes.  I witnessed arguments and fights perpetuated by our feeling of lack of control.  I think we all believed what we were being told about how to end this pandemic.

Like lemmings, we followed the rules, did what we were told.  As time went on and the rules keep changing, people are starting to rebel. I went out to run errands last week.  Like before, I’d start heading into a store only to have to circle back for a mask.  Then I decided that I would retrieve the mask but only put it only if I was asked to by a staff member.  No one did.  There were many people doing the same thing. 

So, when will this all end?  When do the CDC and the DOH stop changing the rules?  As I sit here writing this I’m listening to the radio.  Schools are going back to remote learning and early dismissals due to staff shortages.  On New Year’s Eve, there was a celebration at Rocky Point.  This included food trucks and things for the kids to do and ended with fireworks.  Masks were not required.  How is that possible?  I for one  am getting tired of the mixed messages and rule changing.  I’m going to cautiously move into 2022 and hope that the powers that be let us be adults and make our own choices.