So. . . How are you holding up?
We hope you are coping with the upheavals of the past year in good health and good spirits.
We're holding steady. We've been hunkered down since the governor issued the stay-at-home order back in late March and have generally observed those guidelines since, even when the order expired. Our only ventures out of the house other than shopping for necessities was having our usual Sunday dinner at our usual restaurant but only on the patio. The change in seasons has now put an end to patio dining, and with another wave of the pandemic, the restaurant is shuttered for the time being. We are exploring other local establishments for our Sunday take-out.
Covid scotched all our travel plans for 2020. We had plans for late April to take a walking tour in Bryce and Zion Canyon National Parks with my sister Cindy and husband Mike. We were going to bury Mom's ashes Father's Day weekend in Blacksburg*, and then head to Cadiz KY for the Thomas Family reunion. We were going to take our usual jaunt to Maine in July visiting friends on the way there and back. We were going to my nephew Mason's and Claire's wedding** in Pine Point in September. We were going to go to Greene RI for Thanksgiving with our daughters and their mothers. And we were going to go to Oakland CA for Christmas to visit with Jonathan's brother and family. Oh well, next year in Jerusalem.
And rather unexpectedly, I got a job. Even though I thought the pandemic would derail the possibility, I started work as Senior Director Research & Development at Rebiotix (a Ferring company) in late April. Although a goodly proportion of the company works remotely due to the pandemic, I've been in the office most days. I'm also having an awful lot of fun, and I really like my coworkers. So I've parked my consultancy for the foreseeable future.
Despite the rising wave of Covid, there is an end in sight with the first three vaccine candidates showing exceptional promise, with another dozen or so in the last phase of clinical trials. All three of the leading vaccines report stimulating both arms of the immune system which suggests they will be effective. I'm hoping that multiple vaccines will accelerate their availability and that we'll be able to be vaccinated sometime this spring, and the various pandemic-related measures will be phased out.
So all-in-all, we're weathering the pandemic well – and so looking forward to next year.
Cheers, Mark (with back-seat editing by Jonathan)
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* If all goes well, we will have Mom's service Father's Day weekend 2021.
** Mason and Claire tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in October in Richmond VA.
