I had a rib out. I visited my chiropractor this week for a routine maintenance and she discovered my bottom rib was not where it was supposed to be. I told her that my left wrist hurt when ever I was in plank and my right ankle hurt every time I pressed into child’s pose. I don’t know what part of my body surprised her the most, the misaligned rib or the sound my ankle made when she put it back into place. I left my chiropractor feeling different. I hadn’t even noticed the whole rib thing so there’s no telling how long that’s been wonky, but I did notice the difference it made to have it back in place. I like things in order. I am at ease when things are in order. Tiddy, straight orderly lines are soothing. This is my weighted blanket and why I love roaming the isles of the Container Store. When my surroundings become too clutter and messy, I get real testy. Turns out the same is true when my body is out of place.

This week has been a full and busy week, but not in bad way. Mask mandates have been lifted at work for all who are fully vaccinated and all of us scientists tentatively took off our masks. Then we all grinned at each other because many of us had not seen each other’s faces outside of a Zoom meeting in well over a year. There has been an obvious lifting of the strain we have all been carrying on our shoulders since all of this started. Some of us, including me, have been face to face with all of the COVID data on a daily basis for over a year. Every day, I watched the numbers of deaths steadily increasing while at the same time I watched a portion of the general public ignore all guidelines. It did not take long to see the correlation between the two and the feeling of hopelessness to settle in. As scientists, we walked around with the weight of all of that data. As we suspected, vaccinations are turning all of this around and we can relax a little. I will still be wearing a mask at the grocery store and in crowded areas. If I am not feeling well, I will be wearing a mask in public. This should have been our general norm even before COVID.

I have received some real good hugs in the last few days. I’m talking about the kind of hugs that make you sigh with relief, the kind of hug that melts the tension in your body. Seeing the smiling faces of my coworkers and dear friends, being able to hug those dear friends, all of this makes me feel more hopeful than I have in a long time.