two years and counting

Now it is two years since the first case of the new corona virus was detected in Japan; never had I believed two years ago that we would again find ourselves in a situation where the case count is going up and up, where the vaccines are not effective enough and the news is filed with booster discussions and no end of the pandemic in sight. Thinking that our son has spent his whole life in the middle of a pandemic, not yet having met his Swedish grandparents, is just too sad. And what more is sad is that wearing a mask for me now feels completely normal (catch up on the year review from last January below); I almost feel naked without one.

So much has happened this past year – a brand you life for our family in a new house in a new place with a new job for my wife and new friends for our son. But still the same old ever present pandemic making us live our lives behind masks, avoid eating together with other people, stay away from overly crowded places and above all making it impossible to go to Sweden. As time passes, the pandemic seems more close to home than ever; for a long time I almost did not know anyone who had become infected, but recently in addition to royalties and politicians, I hear about so many people in Sweden and Japan whom I know that has had too close contact with the virus.

While Japan has had relatively few cases recently the infection rate is picking up rapidly here as well now and I just hope that it will not become like Sweden where so so many many people get the new omicron variant; perhaps a vain hope but nonetheless… In benefit for my stress level I need to focus on a bright future where travel once more will be possible, where eating out will be a joy. And where our son gets to meet a world where he can read the faces of all the people that he everyday so happily waves at; today on our morning outing he was waving at the neighbor, the people working with caring for the playground, two ladies out walking dogs, a big crow, a flock of small birds, a package delivery truck, the postman on his bike that we met on our way home and finally the television antenna repair guy in his van – not one visible smile did he get in return.

May I write this time next year that the world has started smiling at our son, not only through its eyes but with its whole beautiful face.