Dear Readers,

I got lucky, truly. Thought I am in the 1-B group here in Texas due to a chronic disease and thus qualify to be vaccinated, there weren’t any vaccines available in my area, and whenever they’d get them in, they would run out of appointment slots almost immediately. Mid-morning on Sunday, January 17th, I was hanging out in my usual haunt (the front porch). On a whim, I checked the county health page and they had just opened up for registrations! I was able to book an appointment for 0900 on Wednesday, Jan. 20th. I had to drive around 30 minutes or so to get to the vaccine hub, but it went quickly. The shot was the least painful shot I’ve ever had. Right away, I got a metallic taste in my mouth and my skin felt warm, like when you get contrast for a CT Scan, but it passed quickly. It is a little over 48 hours later as I type this. My arm is still sore, but definitely less so than yesterday. Today I also feel a little achy, have mild chills off an on, and a slightly elevated temperature (99.1), but it’s not too bad as of yet. I suppose that could change though. I’m looking forward to getting my second dose. (I got the Moderna vaccine).

Molly’s Song is winding its way toward publication. I’m not sure of a release date as of yet, but I will update you as soon as I know. As much as I would like to have had the book out for you yesterday, that is not how this works. It takes a lot of time to write a book, and it also takes time to publish a book. But I assure you that your patience will be rewarded when you get to read the story! Now I need to devote myself to writing the first sequel so that you won’t have to wait as long in between the release of those books. Molly still has plenty of stories left to tell!

And speaking of headstrong redheads, my wife is a Chiefs fan and she’s already planning what outfit to wear to watch them in the Super Bowl. When I remind her that they have to beat the Bills first, she sends me to my room. I’m a Saints fan and they turned in a typically putrid performance that saw them out of the playoffs last Sunday. Underperforming in the playoffs (with the exception of one year), is sort of a Saints tradition. Is it baseball season yet? Though to be fair, I would not call what the Red Sox played last year baseball. Hopefully this season will be better.

When I first started keeping this running Pandemic Year series back in March, I had no idea that ten months and twenty-seven posts later, I’d still be writing it. Originally, did not have a plan for how long I’d keep it up. Part of me thought I would do it until there was a vaccine, which there is, but it will take a long time for enough people to get it to make a difference. With that in mind, I am going to keep this going until next August when I “should” start back to my normal face to face teaching duties. That said, there will be other posts not in this series during that time too, particularly related to the release of Molly’s Song.

Once all this is over, the three things I plan to do are: go to mass, visit co-workers I haven’t seen in March, and get a new tattoo (it’ll be my fourth). I’m not sure what order I’ll do them in either!

Until next time, friends, take care of yourselves. And each other.

L.H.