The pandemic has been very stressful and scary for everyone. I’m sure we all thought it would run its course and life would go back to the comfortable way we all remembered it. When we were first told to stay in our homes and away from others I remember feeling relaxed and comfortable just staying home in old clothes and not fretting about where we needed to go and what we had to do. We kept in contact on the phone with our friends and family. In fact, I called and got lots of calls each day. Now weeks go by without contacting many of our old friends. We ordered our groceries over the Internet and had them delivered to our car. If we had to go out we willingly wore our masks. We stayed in the house all winter doing jigsaw puzzles and cooking our food rather than eating out with others. There were no Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas celebrations. We didn’t need to worry about who would come or who wouldn’t. The most horrible part was hearing that some of our friends were dying alone in hospitals unable to see their loved ones. Our good friend Pete Jensen was one of those people. Mary didn’t get to see him for months. Our niece Gretchen was in a nursing home and unable to see her family for an unbearable amount of time. There are still restrictions for seeing her. When spring arrived we started to get together with friends at outside coffee times and get togethers. The summer of 2020 was a pleasant one for us with everything being done outside. None of our friends went into each other’s homes. March of 2021 was a time for us to get shots and feel more secure about not catching this horrible disease. It is terribly hard for me to understand the people who assume the shots do no good. We have been vaccinated for so many other things over the years and helped eradicate them. Polio was a dreaded thing when I was young and now you never hear of it. I hate that it has caused our own family members to be on opposite sides of shots or no shots. Masks are still required in many places but the majority of us tend to not wear them. We now go to others homes for visits and are probably taking risks we shouldn’t. Sports events and concerts draw thousands with no masks. Why? Every day we hear of more local people who are hospitalized or dying from covid. I wonder what the future will bring for us.