I know the vaccine is not a guarantee against the coronavirus, but with two shots in my arm I am feeling a kind of hope I have not experienced in a very long time.
I am, above all else, a people person. I like to give big hugs, host dance parties and make people laugh. These moments have been few and far between and have only occurred with a small select group of humans in the last year. We have beyond rallied to give lots of hugs and make each other laugh within our social bubble, but I believe that can only carry you so far. I deeply miss the strangers and acquaintances that spark casual conversation.
I miss stopping at multiple dorms in one evening to bop by the rooms of more distant friends. I miss asking the person at the bookstore for advice and spending way too long chatting about a shared favorite book. I miss going to a theater production and feeling the audience take a collective breath at intermission. These interactions are harder to come by, as we are conditioned to stay far away and limit our social circles. These chance encounters, I have realized, are part of what gives me my zest for life.
Take Pres Ball, for example. Getting dressed up was fun, having a few drinks was fun, being with my friends was super fun, but the best part was being surrounded by so many people, only a handful of which I knew well. Dancing in a crowd of so many was an incredible feeling. Suddenly the impetus to create energy was not on me, as there was energy all around me. Watching other people be together made me more elated to be with my people.
Soon enough we will graduate campus events and move on towards the more general public. I might get to actually go to the bookstore, or the brewery, get my haircut and someday go back to a concert. Those things are going to come back, and I cannot wait to lean into them. The energy they add to my life is immeasurable.
I have a new appreciation for washing my hands next to a stranger, light banter with a waitress or bumping into someone on the train.
As more social life returns, I am relishing in moments surrounded by others, where dancing and laughing happen just because we are so overjoyed to be in each other’s presence. There is a newfound joy in the mundane, which is no longer mundane at all.
peacor1@stolaf.edu
Grace Peacore ’21 is from
Pasadena, CA.
Her major is
sociology/anthropology.
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