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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

One aspect of the pandemic that future observers may not appreciate is that it’s BORING. In the initial stages of the pandemic, when there wasn’t any vaccine and almost no treatment, it was a daring adventure just to go to the grocery store. All your senses were sharper; you noticed everything around you—the bright primary yellow of a dandelion, the liquid warbling song of a robin, the chill of the brisk March wind—because you knew that next week you could be on a ventilator. Or maybe dead. Now, we’re close to the two-year anniversary of the discovery of Covid-19. The virus is old news. If you’ve been fully vaccinated and you live in an area where the vaccination rate is high, you no longer have that immediate fear of death. Instead, you probably have a constant low-grade anxiety that never completely goes away. No U.S. states or counties are on lockdown any more, but we still can’t do all the things we used to do; lots of places are closed or operating under reduced capacity, and some places (like my favorite toy store) just aren’t there any more, victims of the pandemic. And when you do go out, you still have to wear a mask and maintain social distancing, because you never know if the guy standing next to you in the checkout line is one of those idiots who refuses to get vaccinated. That’s getting kind of old. It’s as though our old life was in color, and now we’re living in black and white.