I seem to do the "mask walk" more than others. That phenomenon where you get out of your vehicle and head toward the store, then realize you forgot your mask.
I had to miss my Uncle's funeral, but they live-streamed it. I'm not a huge funeral person anyway. I can effectively say goodbye from anywhere. He's not in that body anymore anyway, and even after the doctors said he had 3 years, he gave us 11, so I won't complain that his timing was poor. Tough old bird.
I find myself to be very adaptable. I can pretty seamlessly go from one reality to another without too much trouble, so I've just kind of been chill about the whole thing. I was a farm boy and then directly moved to live in East L.A. for 6 years and thought it was grand, so suddenly wearing a piece of paper on my face is small potatoes. I do find myself cherishing my close friends and family more now because I'm a hugger, a social person, and a reader of people. Masks make it hard to read people, I can't hug random strangers like I used to, and I can't just go hang out in social places like I used to. Not to mention, my favorite social place to hang out closed permanently because of the pandemic. Grrrr.
Yesterday my bestie knew I was busy getting ready to head to FL, but she called me at 6am and said, "let's go to Wellsboro and hike the PA grand canyon." So, we drove 3 hours in the rain, hiked for a couple hours in the rain, and drove 3 hours home in the rain. She just knew it would be good for me to do something social, get some hugs, and not micro-manage my own time. She's awesome.
I do know a lot of people who are beginning to get a bit scarred. The bestie (mentioned above) is pretty triggered by the masks. She knows she has to wear them, but hates it to the point where she's seeing a therapist about it. We know she had an abusive father who finally got kicked out when she was 5, so we're wondering if there was some trauma related to why she has trouble with masks. I also know a lot of people who are struggling with money. My sister and BIL both were employed with a combination of part time work and self-employment. Sister was a private tutor and elderly caregiver through the church, and my BIL did music for a church and did a lot of gigs around the area. They neither one qualified for unemployment, and 7 months later their PUEC gig-worker application hasn't even been acknowledged. No one answers the phone, not one email returned, even their Senator can't get anything moving. So they lost all work and have zero pennies coming in and two sons - one in college.
