I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue the daily journal after we got our second vaccinations and after the one-year mark, but I guess I am, at least until we reach “fully immunized” status or we spend a night away from home – at that point, I think the name would really need to change.

We planned a very easy day today to allow for side effects from the second vaccination – so easy, we didn’t even plan to cook. But we were lucky and had very few side effects. We were both very tired last night and went to sleep early; Diane’s arm is still sore, and she was tired until lunchtime; my arm was a little sore and I had a bit of a headache, but a couple of ibuprofen tablets took care of that.

We felt good enough to go out for our usual walks this afternoon, and we even cooked one of our quarantine favorites, Blistered Broccoli Pasta with Walnuts, Pecorino, and Mint for dinner.

So far, so good.

We had two projects come to fruition today!

The first was in our backyard; our landscaper installed lighting to highlight the fruit trees and other plants, as well as lighting up the area around the grill so I can cook better at night.

And the other was in our arms – we got our second Moderna jabs this afternoon at Valley Medical Center. The process was significantly easier and faster this time (except for finding a parking spot!) – I don’t think we had to wait more than five minutes total between arriving and getting jabbed. We had to wait around for 30 minutes afterwards, of course, but we knew to expect that.

It’s hard to believe that, exactly one year ago, we were hunkering down waiting for the official Shelter-in-Place order to go into effect the next day. Life seems brighter now, even if we still aren’t going anywhere in the near future!