It seems like it’s been a long time since life felt normal. We’ve been dealing with the pandemic in my area for about 14 months now, and it’s not over yet. Even though I (and a majority of my friends and family) have been vaccinated, I know we’re still not out of the woods. Yes, the CDC relaxed their recommendations, but I’ve seen conflicting information from other organizations about whether or not we should continue masking and distancing precautions. So, even though I’ve relaxed my own mask use around some family, I’m still wearing one most of the time at work, and certainly when I’m around a lot of people. I’m not really worried about getting COVID myself anymore–I mean, I’m fully vaccinated AND I had COVID, so I should be fine (assuming no new variants develop that the vaccine isn’t effective against) . But I know that not everyone can get the vaccine because of allergies to some of its ingredients, other conditions, or because none of the available vaccines have been approved for children under the age of 12 yet. So, I feel like I’m setting a good example and showing solidarity with people who aren’t comfortable going sans mask yet, for whatever reason.
In the last couple of weeks, though, I’ve also had some opportunities to interact with friends and family in ways that I definitely wouldn’t have been comfortable with just a few months ago. Today, for example, I got to participate in a read-through of a musical I’ll be performing in for a local community theatre at the end of July. We’re starting rehearsals earlier than we normally would, and we’re still taking precautions–everyone at the read-through today was masked, and we mostly kept our distance too. Well, once we got the hugs out of the way. I got to see several people today who I haven’t seen in person in over a year. And it was so good to know that we’ve all been vaccinated, and could be together without really worrying about spreading this potentially deadly virus.
The show we’re doing is called Little Miss Sunshine. It’s a musical based on the movie with the same name. If you’ve never seen the movie, it’s…unique. I’ll just say it’s about a family that’s been dealing with a lot. And in this musical version the mother sings a song called “Something Better Better Happen“. And while the family in this show hasn’t been through a pandemic, some of the lyrics of this song feel so relatable after what we’ve all been through this last year:
“Something better better happen.
And it better happen soon.
Will this sad, unfunny morning
Become a sunny afternoon?
Things get better or they worsen.
Or, at least they move.
I’m the sort of silly person
Who believes things will improve.
Will things improve?
Things must improve.“
I’ve always been that sort of silly person who expects that things will work out. This last year has tested my optimism for sure. It’s felt like we’ve just been in a holding pattern for the last several months, wondering at times if things will ever get better. But I still think things must improve–it feels like we’re headed in that direction. Like I said, I know we’re not in the clear yet, but I feel like we’re getting closer. And this read-through with friends felt like a little bit of sunshine in what, so far, has been a partly cloudy year at best. I’m so grateful to be part of this group of wonderful people who get to bring this show to life. And I sincerely hope that by the end of July, when we plan to perform, it will be a spot of sunshine for our audiences too.
growingmoxie.com 