I think we can all agree that it’s been a long, tough year and a half that has passed us by. From minor inconveniences, to cancellation after cancellation, to the great toilet paper hoarding of 2020… we’ve all put our lives on hold in some form or another in the past year or so. We’ve all been anxious at one time or another. We’ve all been put out in some way. Travel plans cancelled, events called off, gatherings nixed, mandates given, our lives have been disrupted. Worst of all, some of us have lost dear friends or family to a virus that we knew very little about as we were still learning about it. That pain will linger with us long after this entire thing has been explained and tucked away onto history’s shelves. Right now though, we are still in it. We are still learning, struggling, and we are still living. So we must go on.

I’ve been encouraged lately by many things. First the vaccinations were approved and made available to those who chose to take it. For those of us who did choose to vaccinate, it gives us a sense of hope and some security. It made us feel that there was something that we could do to protect ourselves and others, especially those closest to us. Of course we wanted to do that. Like many things in this country, we are divided amongst ourselves even about this. Let me just say this… I am a proponent of this vaccine. I am not going to attempt to convince anyone else to be or to feel the way I do about it though. I think the things we choose to put into our bodies are left to personal choice, and I am good with that. I feel how I feel about it, but at the end of the day you feel the way you do and each are our own choices which we are free to make. I must live with the possible consequences of my choices, and so must you. We are allowed that in this country… both the choice and the consequence. I have people in my life who are very dear to me who don’t agree with my stance, and that is just fine. It doesn’t lessen my opinion of them or my affection for them. We wish each other well and we go about the business of living.

In the city where I live, cases are finally down. Hospitalizations are down seventy-some percent. They say the virus is moving. I suppose that will continue to happen, as will variations and such. I will continue to mask up in crowded indoor spaces or confined spaces for now. In more open spaces I feel that I can breathe a little easier right now. That is a good feeling.

Friday night, a last minute opportunity popped up for me to attend an outdoor concert. Something I wouldn’t have even considered doing a year ago or even six months ago, I decided to do. I went. For a few hours, I felt pre-Covid normal again. It was amazing. All the feelings and excitement and joy rushed back into the vacuum that had been left by this virus. The fresh night air, the loudness of the speakers, the adrenaline in the crowd, the connection with the artists, the unmasked smiles exchanged with friends, the taste of an ice cold beer on my lips while I swayed to the familiar sounds coming from the stage… all these contributed to an evening the likes of which I haven’t had in a long, long time. It really was magic. Live music is something to be experienced, you don’t just listen with your ears. You listen with your heart and soul, you listen with your body, you hear it speak to you in such a personal way that it seems each song is being played just for your own enjoyment. Then you look around at the other people in the crowd and you realize that each one feels exactly what you are feeling at the same moment. Each person connects that song with their own feeling or memory, and each is exclusive. Artistic experiences can do that. It’s as if a book, a painting, or a song reaches out with long invisible fingers to each person who connects with them and touches their soul in a very intimate way. It’s the same profound experience, and yet it’s completely unique. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed sharing that experience with a few thousand fellow fans. There’s nothing like that second when you’re lost in a song either singing along, tapping your foot, or dancing in place, and you lock eyes with a fellow fan, a complete stranger, and you both smile because you both feel something in that moment. Two strangers are conjoined for a second in time by something powerful and yet very individually particular. It’s a fan-share moment.

As the night ended I walked back to my car to head home, feeling fulfilled and as if something in me had been quenched. I spent a lot of that Saturday going about my day while singing songs from the night before, happy and a little lighter from my experience. The music and the camaraderie had lasted long after the show was over. Music can do that too. It stays. It lingers long after the encore. It hangs around and offers you respite from your daily routine, from stress, from life. What a gift that is, especially in times when we need connection and respite more than ever. We already lived in a culture that separated us with technology. Facebook instead of real life visits, emails instead of phone calls, were and are doors that we closed between ourselves and others. Then Covid came along and nailed those doors shut for a time.

Little by little we are picking up our claw hammers to pull out the nails and open the doors just a crack. As the light and love and connection streak in, we feel refreshed and renewed and alive again. We aren’t home-free just yet. We may have to open and close those doors a few more times. Let’s agree not to take for granted the relationships in our lives again. Let’s make a little more effort to reach out to one another going forward. We all need that human connection and we’ve all been deprived of it for a bit. Let’s feel that, let’s embrace that, and let’s be present for one another in real life. It’s good to be back among friends. Let’s stay and visit for a while.