I’ve just made an appointment for my first novel coronavirus vaccine shot, a Pfizer. If all goes well, I’ll get jabbed on Wednesday, March 17. St. Patrick’s Day.

I have started to let myself daydream a bit–okay, a considerable amount–about all the deferrals that might be possibles, even probables after Alice and I are both vaccinated. In doing so, I find myself rehearsing all the things we haven’t been able to do over the last year. I’m surprised to find how long that list has become. Some things I have a hard time remembering I ever did. Maybe I read about someone doing things like visiting a record store, or flying in an airplane. Things like that.

I know that caution and care will still be the order of the day. Frankly, I’m not sure I can get back in the zone of Doing Things In The World Outside very quickly even after Shot 2. But when I heard the President’s address on Thursday and thought about that Fourth of July celebration he envisioned, it felt like something frozen in the middle of my soul had begun to thaw, at least a little bit.

Many a mile to freedom, as the fellow once sang. It’ll be interesting to take that first step on Wednesday.