Party, Party, Party
OMG. I’ve attended two parties in the past two weeks – parties at which many guests seemed to have forgotten their masks. Both gatherings were indoors/outdoors, and at each one, I chose a table open to the wind.
I had forgotten how much fun a party can be.
In March of 2020 I was ready to host a retirement party for Cathy, ACF’s excellent general manager. On the Tuesday before the Saturday event, it became clear to me that we would have to postpone. No one was happy about it. Cathy had been a beloved employee for many years and deserved a festive sendoff. As it turns out, we cancelled one day before the deluge began. The very next day the National Basketball Association modified its entire season to accommodate COVID 19 and soon after that the entire country went into lockdown.
But we humans are inherently flexible. During the past 29 months most of us have adjusted to COVID. Today I enjoy working from home two days a week, as do many others.
Even though COVID is still with us, people are getting out and about. From what I’ve read, travel related companies, notably including airlines, are scrambling to meet the high demand.
As a general policy, I refuse to worry about a future I can’t do anything about. This started in the 1940’s, when for a few years I worried about a nuclear bomb bursting into a mushroom cloud over Los Angeles at any given moment. I finally calmed myself by realizing my energy was better directed to problems I could do something about, and not those potential events entirely beyond my control.
I will continue to take precautions in response to COVID. I will mask in public, remain ten feet away from people I talk to in the office, and continue to enjoy more solitary pursuits such as reading and watching sports on TV.
What I will not do is retreat from the world. There might be fewer parties to attend, but that is the best reason I know to enjoy each one even more.
And yet, we must remain careful. Daveen attended a wedding last Saturday evening. The post-wedding brunch was cancelled because on Sunday morning the groom tested positive for COVID.
Perhaps the new rule in life is to have fun – but at a respectful distance.
Alan