I showed up at 8am, appointment card in hand, just as the doors were opening. Everything was efficiency and briskness. Men and women from the National Guard, every one of them solicitous and polite, were there in large numbers to handle the formalities and steer us towards the smiling nurses. By 8:17am I was vaccinated, had my sticker, and was heading back to my car. Ten dollars for parking. When did NYC become so reasonable and easy?

Will anything change now that I have my Covid-19 vaccination? No and yes. No because it will take many months before we see the kinds of numbers being vaccinated that will propel a real change in how I live. Yes because that tiny jab in the arm injected me with something more than a vaccine, a little bit of hope that the end might just be in sight.