I would imagine that it would be hard to find anyone psyched at the arrival of Omicron onto the scene. Even major stockholders of Pfizer, Moderna and others integral to the vaccine development and manufacture supply chains, most of whom presumably have more money than they know what to do with, could hardly be faulted if they reacted with a certain ennui.
Even before the gnarly little bugger reared its foul head on the global scene, I had already planned to pull in my social horns in the lead up to our planned Christmas journey to New York to see Mary's family. The crowds at Be Loud! 21 at the Cradle last weekend -- and also at Towny Ludington's memorial -- felt like a bit much, and the ramping COVID numbers in Europe have been fairly shouting at us to moderate our indoor socializing.
But Omicron has me doubling down. Yesterday I went to Harris Teeter after playing tennis with Z (6-1, 3-6) and -- shades of spring 2020 -- stocking up fairly vigorously, though continued restricted supplies of key items like the shelf stable juices and snacks that have become integrated into our lifestyles dampened my exuberance ever so slightly.
But I am also mindful that, if we will be spending a little more quality time as a nuclear family -- a point hammered home when we put Natalie and Stuart on a plane yesterday and Mary became emotional not just at Natalie's departure but at the anticipation of Graham's heading off to college (something I've thought of quite a bit in recent weeks) -- that we should be ever more intentional about the time we do spend together. So I put in the extra work yesterday and prodded Graham and Mary to find a movie that they would both agree to watch.
At a very high level, I have to wonder if Omicron is the Lord's little way of saying to all of us: you failed to adequately learn the lesson of round 1 of COVID, that everyone is important and that all should be appreciated. And now, with the supply chain already pretty well fucked, another wrench of untold scale has been thrown into the works. Time to try again.
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