Thank you, Pfizer.

 It's been over a month since my second Pfizer shot. Three weeks since Howard's.

I'm still a little leery about supermarkets and definitely restaurants, but gradually I've ventured into some of the places that, until March 2020, were commonplace.

Still there haven't been many encounters with people...close up and personal. We've visited neighbors we love, invited friends we've missed dearly to dinner. But we had yet to venture out too far from the safety of home.

And then daughter Terri called. Would we go to her house for Easter dinner? She, Chris and the kids would like to spend some time with us.

There wasn't a nanosecond's hesitation. We couldn't wait to see everyone, particularly the grandkids. Time went by slowly until Sunday and the trip up seemed to be in slow motion, despite being on the NJ Turnpike with traffic zipping by at amazing speeds.

Then, the hugs.

It was all about the hugs. 

So much to catch up on... son-in-law's remote career, Terri's volunteer work.

And grandson's full beard, work to finish his junior year in college remotely. Granddaughter's lovely smile, news of college selection with a May 1 deadline to commit. Tentative graduation plans. We knew some of it already from phone calls and texts. Still it was better in person, almost like hearing it for the first time. 

We were there for a little over six hours, but time flew. With summer coming, we hope to see more of all of them, spend some time at the shore with them when they move down for a couple of months. We will call and text until then, but it will be the hugs we look forward to once again.

Thank you, Pfizer. The vaccine is a miracle...and a blessing...and the gateway to being more normal than we've been for so long. We'll keep wearing our masks when we're out among people and we'll keep our distance. Maybe those things will continue for an indefinite time as we adjust to a new way of living. 

But for now, there are the visits, the dinners and, best of all, the hugs.