The wind is cold tonight and it feels like the unofficial end of summer.

I’m exhausted (not a COVID symptom) and anxious (totally a pandemic side effect).

In a way, summer turned out okay. I was able to go to France, see my family, enjoy some normality and we’re all fine.

But I’m also frustrated because nothing changed. Sure, it was a tad optimistic to assume the virus would just “disappear” over the summer but I was still hoping we would know more by now and a long-term plan B, C, etc. would materialize.

Ah, ah. Seems like we’re back to square one. Physical distancing, maximum store capacity, isolation, masks, an array of restrictions and measures, closed borders, a vaccine race even though we’re told it won’t be a silver bullet and a motto—don’t catch it, don’t get sick.

Okay, I’m not just anxious, I’m scared. Are we going back to school, to work, to life with COVID in mind but not as an omnipresent threat?

I don’t have a clue.