I've been looking for advantages in aging for as long as I've been considered "aging." It's been an uphill battle.
My hip had to get replaced, and hasn't healed well enough after six weeks; physical therapy now necessary. The other one now hurts, too. My prostate had to get shaved. I nearly died of excessive arterial plugging. It's been a long five years.
And, of course, Covid, the ultimate ogre, the hidden monster. The CDC finally came to the rescue, admitting as it did that it was behind the curve scientifically there for a while.
The signals it's sending are certainly hopeful, but actually bizarre. Now that I've been fully vaccinated, I can walk into a bar, sit down with people fully around me and drink as much as I possibly can to catch up on all the beers I've missed, but I need a mask inside the doctor's office and the hospital, where everybody's so disinfected they look bleached? Huh?
Okay, but let's slice through the confusion. For the most part, going maskless is now not a threat to me or from me. That's because I've been old enough to be among the first in line for my shots.
It's also because of a development highlighted by Laurie Garrett, a medical analyst who sometimes appears on MSNBC. A couple of days ago, she said that there was a growing chance that the vaccine actually puts antibodies in people's mouths and noses--the two routes by which the virus is normally spread (Also the eyes, but I have glasses, so blockage is there at least for me.). I'm guessing it was that discovery and verification that allowed the CDC to make the rather surprising announcement.
Businesses haven't caught up yet, a day after the ruling. We can't expect them to. They operate, most of them, from corporate headquarters that are sensitive to potential lawsuits. It'll take a while. So if you've had the two shots, I would carry a mask with me if I were you, at least for the present moment.
In the meantime, it's weird, I have to admit, to see people walking around with masks now. I feel for them. But if we're going to put this thing where it belongs, they still have to do it. I'm working on not approaching them with trepidation, after 15 months of needing to do so.
So I celebrated and had lunch at a counter of a greasy-spoon restaurant that I haven't entered in at least the last ten years. Still had great burgers with fabulous cooked onions. Still had great fries, though technically, I'm not supposed to have them. I took off my mask and announced to the waitress that I'd had my shots. Not sure that it mattered, but I didn't see any on the faces of any of the other customers, either. Things are loosening up.
Motorcycles are zipping around now. Traffic is backing up in places suddenly, maddeningly, but the kind of thing that happens when people are normally out and about. It's actually, for the moment, something to like.
I'm not going to gloat, but I am going to celebrate. There's a bar just half a block away in which I haven't ordered a beer since March 2020. Might even have two. It's hell getting old. Except for now.
Be well. Be careful. Even if you've had your shots, carry a mask with you. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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