Yesterday I saw my grandpa in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic. I talk to him at least once a week, and that’s something I’ve been doing for years and years. But it’s been a long time since I got to visit him because I didn’t want to risk harming him.

Now, I had kept myself masked and safe. I didn’t engage in risky behaviors. But I didn’t want to find out only when it was too late that I was an asymptomatic case. So why would I even take the risk?

But I’m vaccinated now, and I’ve started to go out and be a person again. That means I am now able to visit my grandpa. Though I’m still wary of getting too, too close because he’s a thousand years old, and even with the effects of the moderna vaccine coursing through my veins, who knows!

During my lunch break today, I headed over there. I called him in advance, which is to say that I parked outside and called him to see if he would have me over. Before I could ask him, he asked me if I wanted to come over. I told him I’d see him shortly.

As a perhaps unnecessary precaution, I wore a mask for the duration.

I’m glad I visited him, and I will do it again. He’s aged throughout the pandemic. I think we all have. But it shows on him. I hope he’ll perk up over time.

Seeing people in person still is strange for me, and I have to break out of the temperament I’ve had throughout the covid era of not letting myself get excited because I feel like the things that are exciting won’t happen. I wasn’t always this way, and I won’t always be this way.

I look forward to the next time I visit my grandpa, and I’m stoked to start seeing others, too.