Saw my first unmasked face out in the wild today. OK, technically inside in the wild. And it was not who I expected it to be. I would have bet money it would be a douchy white dudebro, but no, it was a little white haired elderly lady at Starbucks. (Yeahhhhh, Starbucks gave up, too.)

And it was weird. I’m confident she was vaccinated, as our vaccination rates for the over 65 population has been really, really good. And the funny thing was, she had her mask in her hand – so I guess it might have been, “I am going to see how this feels to have it off inside but be totally ready to put it back on.”

And it was super weird for me – I so wanted to ask her, “ISN’T THIS WEIRD FOR YOU? DOESN’T YOUR FACE FEEL VERY NAKED? CAN’T YOU LITERALLY FEEL THE AIR MOLECULES BOUNCING OFF YOUR FACE?! YOU’RE KINDA MATURE, AREN’T YOU AT ALL WORRIED?!?”

But, I did not, and it’s a good thing my mask was on given that was the only thing keeping my jaw from legit hitting the floor, LOL.

As my internet bestie Ashley pointed out – we have gone through a LOT of trauma with all this, and she’s absolutely right. And yet, I keep telling myself, “I’m good. Didn’t lose anyone, didn’t get sick, was able to stay safe at home, only had one semi-public breakdown” – and yet I almost started to cry in the car yesterday when I realized I’d have to deal with crowds again and today wanted to shake a little old lady by the shoulders going, “HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO THAT?”! Yep, I am utterly, totally OK.

I knew we were going to drop mask mandates & capacity limits – I realized that part of why it’s bothering me so much is that I thought it would be done in more of a slow and deliberate manner rather than this clusterfuck – and I am really not tolerating clusterfucks out of this administration, and I’m super annoyed at blue Governors who have forgotten how to think and act independently. (Looking at you, Virginia & North Carolina!)

But, in all this mess, at least my beloved beach coffee and bookshop, Duck’s Cottage, has not disappointed me. On Sunday, they announced that for the foreseeable future, they will be maintaining their capacity limits and masks will be required, and it is non-negotiable. And if you don’t like it, go somewhere else. And the customer response was overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

So, it’s not all bad. But it’s gonna be weird for a while.