We believe it is reasonable to surmise that most of the population is extremely pleased that the pandemic – or at least – the rules governing us during the pandemic – appear to be coming to a long-awaited end.
Only the most unseen and unexpected catastrophe can cause us to return to the Draconian existence we have all led since March 2020.
Most noticeable about the end of the restrictions here is that many, many men, women, and children are still wearing facemasks.
This proves that returning to normal is not so easy after living abnormally for longer than one year.
What took almost one year of our lives away from us in the traditional sense of thinking, will likely take at least the year in front of us to correct itself.
The Memorial Day holiday here was a bust.
In a way, the terrible weather added to the thoughtfulness and the solemnity of the Memorial Day services and remembrances that took place all over the state in memory of all those who died serving our nation.
Otherwise, the weekend of rain was like a continuation of the restrictions placed upon us by the virus.
There was lots of staying home.
If you went away, well, that didn’t work very well either. Many of us didn’t budge.
Many more did.
However, the crowds flying the skies and taking to the roads didn’t come anywhere near full capacity.
That will take quite a while we believe.
Most hotels and convention facilities are not being used at all or are only half-filled at best.
It is going to take a while for tourists to return to Boston.
As for conventions, they remain almost non-existent.
At restaurants were open again without restrictions but again, even with no crowd restrictions, many restaurants will not draw crowds as they did pre-pandemic and probably not for quite a while.
Some of us have lost all our interest in going out to dinner inside a restaurant.
In fact, the cruel twist that shuttered us in during the pandemic has made nearly all of us more conscious of how much money we saved not going out; and how simplified our lives became working from our homes.
For the economy to rise again to free and frivolous spending such as that we experienced pre-pandemic is going to take a while.
For food insecurity to end is a long way off.
How to bring back businesses that have disappeared or how to aid new businesses to take their place is another issue.
How we spend, we believe is going to change.
None of us really knows just yet how all of this is going to shake out.
What we do know is how good it feels to be free of restrictions.
What we also know is how those who lost loved ones to the virus since March of 2020, well, there is no rest for the weary who have suffered such a grave loss.