I went on a date with my husband a week ago. Perhaps this isn't noteworthy to some, but in a pandemic, this was momentous.

Besides, how else would you describe a few hours off on a Friday morning to walk together into the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse at SUNY Sullivan and bare our left arms to a volunteer with a needle full of COVID relief?

It's not the sort of date I'd have planned a year ago.

But then our 20th wedding anniversary was celebrated last fall by making a run to Middletown to pick up a few necessities, masks firmly in place. It was heavenly. Just us outside the walls of our home and beyond the confines of our neighborhood.

We haven't entered our favorite date night eatery in Kauneonga Lake in over a year and haven't taken in a movie at the Callicoon Theater.

But as we stepped outside of the fieldhouse with arms we'd been warned would soon be a little bit sore, we walked into a world that felt just a little bit warmer.

Spring temperatures? Sure.

Or maybe it was the possibility enveloping us. We knew we'd just been wrapped in the warm hug of hope.

We have yet another shot to go, our appointments already made for us by the efficient folks manning the Sullivan County Public Health Services Clinic. These people made our “date” as pleasant as they could, greeting us with bright eyes that made sure you knew there were smiles behind their masks, and kindly escorting us through each step of the vaccine process.

They are the heroes of the hour for the thousands of people just like my husband and me, learning to make sense of a future again.

I'd give them all hugs as thanks for the best date I've had in a year, but we're not quite there yet. Just one more date…one more shot for each of us…