In the era of collective tragedies, it seems as if there's always a mention of the before

times or pre-pandemic in conversations discussing what our past or future might look like. And the

same is true for those personal tragedies, the years before we lost someone, before someone

we love or we ourselves got sick. It's an interesting concept, the way we mark our lives

a before and an after. As folks rush to return to some semblance of normal, many of my friends

are wary of returning to a pre-pandemic mindset. That mindset seems to throw caution to the wind

and act out only of our selfish immediate needs for pleasure or productivity.

On a text thread the other day, we were talking about how sometimes when you are named the chair

of an academic department, the school sends you a real physical chair. We were arguing that instead

of a chair, our friend should receive a full barrel of bourbon, not a bottle, a barrel. We do live

in Kentucky, this is not an entirely unreasonable request. And another friend on the text thread

wrote, yes, actual chairs are so pre-pandemic, bring on the barrel. And of course, it made me

think of all the things that are pre-pandemic. Right now, I'm recovering from COVID. After managing

to avoid it for two and a half years, it finally caught up with both me and my husband.

I'm on day 10 now and keep thinking it's leaving my system and then I get grounded again by fatigue

and sinus pressure. I'm utterly aware that part of why I got sick was my rush back to travel.

I was in South America for two weeks having a wonderful time, learning to tango, reading poems from

incredible Argentine poets. And then, well, here we are. I think of all the pleasures that we

have foregone to protect ourselves and each other and how often we said, no, no, no. And then I found

myself weary. And so I started saying, yes, more, yes to life again. And well, now I'm living with

the consequences. I'll be okay and I'm grateful for vaccines and telehealth appointments and a chance

to rest when I need it. Still, it makes me wonder if our world will ever return to what it looked

...