This is me, lost in an imaginary grey
That was me, thinking that the feeling would stay
Here I am, fading, just waiting for the day
There I was, aching, just breaking for the waves
One year ago today, I got my second Pfizer shot, and it was a milestone that felt both monumental and negligible because at first, nothing changed. The pandemic didn’t end that day, though we wished it would. It eased off slowly, non-linearly, in bits and pieces, and still isn’t over now.
But the summer, autumn, winter, and spring that followed gave me some things. Things I’ll never again take for granted:
Spending Christmas with my family. Spending my birthday with my friends. The departure of social distancing and bubbles. Seeing people’s faces again on the street. The vibe you catch from a rowdy dance floor. The high you get from losing yourself amongst a sea of singing music fans at a live show. The joy of getting to plan things and look forward to them, because they’ll probably actually happen.
Every single time I’ve been laughing so hard with my friends that we end up with tears in our eyes.
The realization that perhaps they call it true love because being loved that way, that much, gives you something to believe in.
And those fleeting moments when you get so caught up in a feeling that you see it from the outside for just a second.
For all of these things, I feel very lucky and am forever grateful.
Breaking for the waves
