Not There Yet

We've seen the signs.  Not the land, but the signs.  They tell us that the land is real.  It's ahead of us.  The long sea journey will have an end.

Diego who, we have established, is an idiot, wants to jump into the sea and swim to land.  "It's real!  It's there!  We've done it!  Come on!"  I might have joined him, but instead I went to see Francisco, the master, the man with the maps.

"Hola, Francisco!  We've seen the birds!  We've seen the branches in the water!  The sea is... different.  So - how much longer?"

Francisco turns slowly, eyes me, and sighs.  He glances at a map in front of him.  "We're halfway there," he says.  "If the wind stays fair."

Great news about the vaccines, great drama as the first doses are administered.  But it's not time to leap off the ship and swim for land.  Experts estimate that we won't be returning to "normal," meaning, generally, no more masks or social distancing, anywhere from August, to next fall, to next winter.  And that's always with the caveat:  "If everything goes right."

So we are, at best, halfway to the new world.

Settle in.