Today I found out that Tsiv, the tall, slender, bearded cashier at the co-op, has a face that looks nothing like what I expected. We met in the mask era. What a joy to see his bright smile for the first time as he greeted me.

{{{ Masks coming off. }}}

At the season’s opening of the Port Townsend Farmer’s Market, I discovered a friend of mine was pregnant. I never even knew she was dating! What a thrill to round the corner and see her full belly at 7 months along.

{{{ Masks coming off. }}}

In the throng of the market, I bumped into the husband of a friend who was a Covid casualty. Luckily, this wasn’t the physical kind of loss, but a very sad, relational death that happened in the high tensions of the early pandemic era when confusion was severing relationships of all sorts. He embraced me multiple times as he shared news of his family. They are doing well. I asked him to tell her “hi” for me. And relief came pouring into my lungs, as if I had been holding my breath.

{{{ Masks coming off. }}}

At yoga this morning, with 24 yogis sardined into the room instead of the six or fewer that were common of the social distancing era, we generated enough heat that little pools of sweat formed around each of our mats. When I opened my throat at the end of class to chant “Om”, the chorus of voices around me felt like they came through my own mouth. No longer practicing alone. My heart filled with ecstasy.

{{{ Masks coming off. }}}

How we do transitions, matters. The stress of the pandemic impacted all of us differently – but it impacted all of us. It would be tempting to just “put it all behind us”. Yet that would do so little justice to the edges of our hearts, bodies and communities that have been worn raw, ragged and thin by the last two years and the ongoing stress of life still deeply in flux.

Trauma is lodged in the body as a forgetting. Its important for our long term mental and spiritual health that we remember.

I pray that as your world is opening, you may mark the firsts, the surprises and the long awaited moments with slow, mindful noticing. Grief may come amidst the joy, a good sign of what may have been frozen now melting.

If you feel you or your organization may benefit from additional support to make the transition from the “before times” to life after masks, contact me. Starting in May, I will be offering facilitated connection workshops to help mark and honor the changes for small groups of friends and/or employees. The title of the session will be, “Masks Coming Off: How to Gently Transition Back to Connection”.

Happy, safe, healthy April, y’all.