In the weeks leading up to my appointment, I watched as friends of mine and people I followed receive the vaccine. For some, it was emotional. Others announced their victory across social. Not often mentioned, I could feel the relief on the other end. I felt like I blinked and my experience was over. As someone documents much of my life in video these days, I didn’t even have time to think. The auditorium like setting in Sacramento was organized chaos, but in the best way. The experience itself reminded me of going to the DMV, but you can just tell that everyone had positive spirits.

Other than my arm hurting for a couple of days after and feeling discomfort trying to sleep, life hasn’t changed much. It’s easy for me to become social again and believe it or not, we have trips that we are looking forward to again. I never thought this day would come. However, I can’t shake the feeling of how much different life was for us a year ago. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead and I hope all of you will do the responsible thing and get vaccinated yourselves as well!

Even though I’ve spent time on more thoughtful pieces lately, I notice I’m posting on Yow Yow! less. It’s a combination of day to day life, work, exploring video, but a chunk of it is preparing myself to go back to a normal life. Combing through posts from last year and revisiting them on Yow Yow! the photos feel far. This photo was posted last July of Cafe Noe’s opening and it feels like ages ago. Back then, it was weird that restaurants and coffee shops were even considering opening up in a pandemic. But they felt what all of us felt; a desire to return to normalcy. I still recall stepping into this cafe and thinking ‘what a great spot to work at on a weekday from a booth.’ With no end of the pandemic in sight, I wasn’t sure when I’d get the chance.

These past few weeks have been a frenzy of ‘have you gotten the vaccine?’ ‘How and where did you get it?’ I’m still grasping that we lived in this world for a year. And as excited as I am to return, a part of me will miss this life. The slower pace and minimal obligations and in general, full accountability and responsibility for just myself. I’ll admit that while I was comfortable with not overexerting myself during this time, I felt the FOMO of watching my own friends continue with their lives. To see them reach new milestones while I was on pause by choice made me feel unaccomplished. While there wasn’t a standard for all of us, I constantly wondered if I could be doing more.

It’s human nature to measure your success with those around you. And as we exit this part of our lives and enter a new chapter, I just hope that I can remember how nice this time could be. That there will always be an option to pause.