This is an opinion column

My friend is a heavy reader and knows I am, too. So she dropped off a bag of books at my house the way she does every few months—books she thinks I’ll like. This time I grabbed the books and grabbed her, too, in appreciation.

“Are we hugging?” she asked me. I said we were. The pandemic, this one, anyway, is in the rearview mirror as far as we know. For months, people who were fist-bumping and standing apart are moving close for physical contact, wrapping arms around each other or at least giving sideways hugs.

It’s touching to see that we can touch now.

Are we masking? Some of the time at some of the places we go on our weekly routes. The aisles at my local grocery store are full of mostly unmasked people, unlike a year ago, when we all wore the face coverings that became, somehow, a political lightening rod. I wear mine only when the store is jammed with people, like a week ago when shoppers were snatching up heart shaped chocolates and Valentine’s cards.

Are we partying? Well, people in my age category don’t party that much, anyway, but yes, parties are happening and guests are showing up in clothes they haven’t worn in awhile. One of my neighbors went to a birthday party wearing a blouse she’d bought years ago, before the pandemic shut parties down. Someone had to remind her to cut the tag off. Her pretty blouse had just been waiting in the closet with nowhere to go.

Are we parading? Yes, there were Mardi Gras parades for the first time in two years, and people came out to catch beads and laissez le bon temps rouler—let the good times roll. While the big parades are in south Alabama, north Alabama had its share of strutting bands and bluesy musicians playing from flatbed trucks and parade floats. Music was in the air again and it sounded good.

Are we listening? Yes, and we have been for two years. We’ve listened to medical advice that changed as new knowledge rolled in, and we’ve gotten our COVID shots and boosters, along with people all over the globe. The world is connected, sometimes in negative ways. My husband tested negative when we visited our study-abroad granddaughter in France, but positive two days later when we came home. The virus doesn’t care which country your passport says you belong to and it travels with you, just like unwanted carry-on luggage.

Are we learning?Yes, we’ve learned that a pandemic can change the world and the rules that govern it. And most of us have learned that doctors know more than we do, Dr. Google didn’t go to med school, and medical workers of all kinds deserve new respect.

And we’ve learned that friends and relationships and just being together means even more than we thought pre-pandemic. Making a long car trip to visit relatives on holidays may have seemed like a chore before COVID. but now it’s a mostly joyful road trip. And we’ve learned what to do-and not to do-if a pandemic comes again.

On long car rides young children always ask—usually in the first hour of travel—if we’re there yet. Are we there yet? I think so. I hope so.