PANDEMIC CHALLENGES
Are You Socially Fit?
Or did the pandemic take that away too?
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Imagine this. You and your spouse, fully vaccinated, invite another fully-vaccinated couple for dinner. You’re excited. You haven’t had an evening like this in over a year. You plan your menu, you shop for groceries, you pick out your wine. All is set.
“We’re back in business,” your spouse says — meaning you are on the road to normal.
Company arrives. There is glee all around. She, your guest, says,
“I never thought I’d be so happy to have dinner with friends.”
You say, with utmost sincerity,
“I know. Who would have thunk?”
Now you are all sitting around the table. You have no need for masks. You aren’t worrying whether the air conditioning or heating systems have been cleaned. All is good. Dinner is great. At least the culinary skills haven’t atrophied.
About one hour into the evening, you look at your spouse because fatigue has started to set in. You have that knowing look that he gets right away. You say to your friends,
“Let’s sojourn to the living room. We can have dessert on the sofa.”
“Great idea,” your friend says because if truth be told, she is tired too.
Now you are all sitting in the living room. Everyone is a bit spent. You’ve been together for a whopping 1.5 hours. You’re all caught up. Your world wasn’t that eventful anyway, so it wasn’t difficult.
Too soon to end the evening, someone suggests that you watch something.
“Well, that’s an idea,” you say.
After all, it won’t require more conversation. You can be together but not interact because you’ve already done a lot of that — well over one hour’s worth, anyway.
You pick one of the many 28-minute episodes of a comedy series. This requires conversation and comparisons, sharing your thoughts, and finalizing some choices. Now you’re down to either Schitt’s Creek, Kim’s Convenience, or Cuckoo, and the selection is made.
