So Much for a Slow Return to Normalcy. Our Semi-Retired Columnist Is Diving In. - Barron's

Our columnist is back at the gym after a Covid hiatus. None of these Manhattan gym-goers is him.

Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Before the pandemic, my friends and I would go to a local coffee shop most Saturdays. But after more than a year away from the routine, I wasn’t sure what to expect when we made our first trip back.

The owner, in his familiar spot cooking behind the counter, did a double-take when I walked in on a recent Saturday. “Welcome back,” he said.

When I got my second dose of vaccine in mid-April, I planned to resume my old life at a measured pace.  I figured I would avoid indoor activities like restaurant dining without a mask for a while more. I figured wrong.

The reality is I’m plunging back in much faster than I had expected, and it seems I’m not alone. I’ve joined a gym where most of the other patrons don’t wear masks. It bothered me a little at first, but I’ve stopped worrying about it.

My friends and I had planned to have that first Saturday meeting outside. But on the actual day, it was cold and rainy, so we met inside without masks. I didn’t worry about that either.

I haven’t stopped taking Covid-19 seriously. It is a scary virus, and it was a relief to get vaccinated. But just as I took the science seriously with the disease, I’m taking the science seriously about the protective power of vaccination. And the scientists, notably the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are telling us it’s safe for vaccinated people to be out and about without a mask.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that my life is returning to normal faster than I envisioned. People can’t live in a permanent emergency. Eventually, we go back to doing the things we would be doing anyway. We travel. We see friends and family. We go to bars and baseball games. We resume all the various activities we’d been involved with before the pandemic.  

This isn’t the first time we’ve gone through this. In 1945, we were a country at war that had transformed its economy into the arsenal of democracy. In 1946, the war was over and Americans were buying cars and houses again, former soldiers were going to college, and people were talking about baseball games, not battles.

Living in Retirement

This pandemic has killed more Americans than World War II, and like that war, which put this country on a new course, some things are going back to the way they were and some things are going to change. More people will be working from home at least part of the time. Those delivery vans in the neighborhood that drop everything from groceries to clothing to athletic equipment on our doorsteps aren’t going away either. 

But people are social animals, and there are some things we must do in person. We must break bread with friends, and share ideas with work colleagues over a cup of coffee, and have raucous dinners with family members. We can’t spend our entire lives hunkered down at home in front of a computer, waiting for the next delivery from Amazon.

Being vaccinated makes me feel like I’m wearing a suit of armor. I can head out again in a world where a dangerous virus lurks and still smell the coffee in a diner, or chew the fat, both figuratively and literally, with my buddies. I can only hope the ordeal we’ve gone through will make all these activities a little sweeter. 

Write to retirement@barrons.com

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So Much for a Slow Return to Normalcy. Our Semi-Retired Columnist Is Diving In. - Barron's
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