Ha. We are fully vaxxed, and feeling positive about getting back to a few essential activities we haven't been able to do in over a year.
The upside of being "super-covid-militant," is that we didn't get sick and die due to the global pandemic. The downside, we gave up most of our social activities. Probably the deepest, hardest cut: we gave up playing music with our band in rehearsals and out in the wider world.
Last night, we finally had a session at our rehearsal studio with a few other players. It was magnificent. We were all over-joyed to make a beautiful noise together. All of us vaxxed and breathing easily. So life-affirming.
Funny. We lost one of our band members in the course of this pandemic, no, not to illness, but to the conspiracy-craziness rampant thru the human herd. One of our members refuses to be vaccinated. He rails about "Evil Big Pharma." Hilarious. Ridiculous. He is now a former member of our band. That's how it happens. Sometimes in just a blink of an eye.
It actually feels good to close that door. And funny enough, another door, another player magically appeared. Feels like a renewal of our band and music.
We also bumped up against another crazy person. Seems one of the other folks who occasionally uses the studio space is a full-blown Q-Anon nut job. She believes that the vaccine is a global plot, that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are dead, and that body-doubles are running the government. Yikes. What can you say?
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. No doubt. So glad we are living in a certain reality where common sense, logic and gravity still exist. Plus, now we can play music once again with other musicians in a room together. Magnificent!
Yesterday. Sunny & warm.
We took what seemed like an important, significant, and tentative step into a post-covid reality. We rented a car and drove out to visit family, you know the people we grew up with, have shared large swaths of experience with; flesh of our flesh, blood of our blood. We are all unique individuals now, with separate lives. We've been away from each other for a long time due to the anxiety-fueled ordeal of the global pandemic lockdown.
Five of us gathered together. All of us vaxxed and healthy. We celebrated that fact with a pizza party and an outdoor music jamboree. We were able to hug, and touch, and high-five and pull down our masks and smile. So liberating. So much fun. There was a palpable joy in the air. A bubble of love surrounded us. The pizza was phenomenal, playing music was engaging and enriching.
It is amazing what we take for granted. Sometimes you have to lose, or be denied, something to really, really appreciate it. So, yes, just to be together was pretty amazing. Joyous. It was long, fruitful day. Unlike many of our days over this last year. Special. Different. Life-affirming. Post-covid. I highly recommend it: a simple, easy to get vaccine is life-changing at a truly fundamental level. Definitely worth it.
There is something reassuring about having an opportunity to listen to a new a record, "Letter to You" (2020), by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. These old-timers have been doing it for a long, long time. There is a continuity, even though the years have rushed by, and what Bruce is singing about today, isn't quite the same as what he was singing about as a young man.
There is still fire and beauty, and powerful rock & roll in the grooves.
The Boss always lays it all on the line. Every record. No doubt. And no other band quite sounds like the E Street Band. Interlocking guitars (Bruce, Nils Lofgren, Steve Van Zandt), Gary Talent on bass, Roy Bittan Piano, Max Weinberg on drums, Clarence Clemons' son Jake on Sax, Patti Scialfa on background vocals, Charile Giordano organ. A layered, complex, undeniable, indelible sound. And there is a joy in the listening. It's not breaking any new ground. Well-constructed rock & roll played with heart and soul. Bruce is singing about death, loss, time passing. Songs that reflect the years. You know, he is writing about a time when people still wrote and read letters. Lots of ghosts across these tracks. Ghosts hang over everything. It's a joy, a pleasure, a conjuring, it's all a bit reassuring.
Rock & Roll. It saved Bruce, changed his life. R&R changed my life too.
Then you are left with the "tasks at hand." It is a way of grounding yourself. You shrink the Universe into bite-size bits. You realize you can't solve all the problems in the world. You can't worry about everything. You have to trust that things will somehow work out. You have to give yourself space to live.
You take longs walks. One foot in front of the other. You have "cleanup time," at home; sweep, mop, dust, polish, put things back in their right place. You listen to the news on NPR a bit less, you play good, life-enriching music a bit more, including great records by : Richard Thompson, Stevie Wonder, The Trees, Fairport Convention.
You meditate. You tell yourself to chill out! You eat a fabulous meal of spaghetti with zucchini and black olives. Yum. You watch Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs." So good. Healing. Funny. Sweet. Gorgeous. Canine! You crack a new book about the Talking Heads. You hit the pillow, happy, tired, and ready for a few sweet dreams. You think to yourself, "that was a good day."
Life. Bite-sized.
So, yeah, I was injected (twice) with the Moderna Vaccine over the last four weeks. My 2nd shot was on Good Friday 2021 (see last 5 posts). I had a bit of a reaction, but, then, I bounced, and now feel pretty much better than ever. You know, a new man!
What's going on in my body? The CDC explains:
A Closer Look at How COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines Work
COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of what is called the “spike protein.” The spike protein is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19.
COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are given in the upper arm muscle. Once the instructions (mRNA) are inside the immune cells, the cells use them to make the protein piece. After the protein piece is made, the cell breaks down the instructions and gets rid of them.
Next, the cell displays the protein piece on its surface. Our immune systems recognize that the protein doesn’t belong there and begin building an immune response and making antibodies, like what happens in natural infection against COVID-19.
At the end of the process, our bodies have learned how to protect against future infection. The benefit of mRNA vaccines, like all vaccines, is those vaccinated gain this protection without ever having to risk the serious consequences of getting sick with COVID-19.
So, you know, my body is ready to defend against Covid-19. That's exciting. What a wild world. Isn't Science amazing?
This morning I feel super-sensitive to the hurly-burly, the roiling chaos of being human. Kind of emotional, expectant, hoping for the best. The human story is quite the convoluted saga. Ups and Downs. Joys and Horrors. We bump along into the Future. Glad to still be around. I am hoping my fellow humans will join the ranks of the VAXXED. What if we could put Covid-19 behind us? There is a Universe of "problems" we need to tackle, maybe we could cross that virus off the list of concerns? Here's hoping.