When I was a kid, my family made several road trips from my hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland to Quebec and Ontario (we got as far as Sault Ste. Marie – Google tells me the most direct route is ~3500 km/2175 mi or 42 hours of driving one way). Those days stuck in the backseat of the car were interminable to my sister and me, but at least we didn’t have to wear seatbelts in those days! It was the pre-tech age and we were tweens. Reading only got us so far before we became carsick.

When the boredom became too much to bear, my mother would helpfully suggest we look outside the car at the “interesting scenery.” For anyone who has driven through Central Newfoundland, they will know that other than the highway, the sky and millions of stunted evergreens, there is NOTHING to see! So we passed the time by playing games, making up stories, trying to sleep and fighting. We would regularly pester our parents with those time-tested questions of “Are we there yet?” and “Does the hotel have a pool?” Invariably the pool would be closed by the time we landed at the hotel at the end of 12 hours of driving.

Our current COVID experience isn’t unlike those road trips of my childhood – authority figures telling us what we can/cannot do, long periods of stressful ennui, and knowing it’s still going to be a while before we reach our destination. Unlike those journeys of long ago, we don’t quite yet know where our final stop will be and how long it will take us to get there. We can only hope there aren’t any more unexpected detours along the way in the form of more variants of concern.

But in the meantime, it’s interesting to consider how much has changed in the ~18 months since we began our journey and where we are currently situated. Certainly, the early days of hoarding toilet paper and cratering fuel prices already seem very strange and scream “2020.” Early 2021 was marked by euphoria – and skepticism – brought on by the rollout of the vaccines. At this point, we are trying to finetune what is enough, but not too much, to keep life rolling along in the current still surreal version of pseudo-normal.

So, as we closely watch the fourth wave occurring, here are some of the things everyone has been noticing about this (middle?) stage of the pandemic:

• You watched the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and wondered why the Japanese (and the IOC) didn’t seem to know what year it was.
• You all learned – or got a refresher on – the Greek alphabet. Here’s hoping they don’t run out of letters any time soon (like they have in recent years when naming hurricanes using our Latin alphabet).
• You’ve all been back to the clothing stores and are either very pleased with yourself – or just plain disgusted. Count me into the latter category. Like all good companies and sports teams do when they have disappointing results, I’ve fired the management – fully knowing that it likely won’t change much.
• The directional arrows and social distancing decals were removed from the floor in your local grocery store and drugstore. But then they came back. Turns out management was just “freshening” them up.
• You’ve been congratulating yourself on automatically donning a mask because it’s become normal. Until you forgot and walked halfway into the grocery store before the strange looks from fellow shoppers made you realize your error. Turns out not wearing a mask is more normal.
• You’ve hugged grandchildren and seen friends you haven’t seen in months, possibly years. And you didn’t have to do it secretly behind closed doors or feel like you were being a bad citizen breaking all the rules in doing so.
• You know people who travelled (gasp!) outside the country and lived to tell the tale. And, of course, the Americans are back!
• Taking vaccine selfies and posting them to social media is so … April and May.
• Delta used to mean a vacation. Now it means the opposite.
• In addition to carrying around masks and sanitizer in your purse/briefcase, you’ve now added your proof of vaccination.
• The idea of a booster shot fills you with hope … and guilt. Just a few months ago it might have filled you with dread. But apparently we just can’t get enough of this hot new mRNA serum.
• You finally dared to get on public transit again. You even managed to get a seat, despite the fact it was 5:30 PM and half the seats were blocked off from use for physical distancing reasons. What happened to the good old days of being jammed into someone’s armpit on a hot summer day as s/he held onto the overhead strap? Ah, nostalgia. Then again, maybe COVID has caused one or two small improvements?
• Visiting elderly relatives and friends in long-term care homes has become noticeably easier – all you had to do was flash your proof of vaccination. No more temperature checks! No more nasal swabs! And even the grandkids were finally allowed in to visit.
• Your calendar has appointments and social dates in it again. You haven’t done a Zoom in weeks – oh wait, that’s only because you were off on vacation.
• You’ve eaten out in restaurants three nights in a row. Because you can. And because you are heartily sick and tired of eating your own cooking – and then doing the dishes afterwards.
• You’re looking at travel sites again. And drooling. The prices are low. Too low. So you aren’t yet daring to buy. Just window shopping. At least not before 2022. Summer 2022.
• You wore high-heeled shoes again! And have foot pain again.
• You stopped any further projects in the backyard due to the insane price of lumber over the summer. And then the price crashed and you experienced the reverse of buyer’s regret.
• The world may still not be back to normal, but your credit card bills certainly are!
• You’ve bought more masks because the other ones have been washed and washed … and washed. The “ripped” look may be cool for jeans, but is definitely not acceptable for facial coverings.
• You’ve gone from eating outside at a restaurant (because eating inside wasn’t permitted) to eating outside (because of the nice weather) to eating outside (because the restaurant doesn’t want to check your vaccination status).

So … wasn’t the summer of 2021 just marvellous? Didn’t it feel like you could finally take a deep breath again and not worry about catching something? Life felt … normal. Or something closely akin to it. Let’s hope we are turning the corner on the fourth wave – and COVID itself. We may not be there yet, but with any luck the remainder of the journey will be short and the pool will still be open when we arrive there.