We’re becoming more and more optimistic and hopeful that life is starting to return back to normal (kinda)!!

For one, schools in Los Angeles have a reopening plan! Cindy’s district is returning in-person for hybrid learning starting next week.

Movie theaters are reopening!!!!! We’ve missed going to the movies sooooooooooo much! We already bought our first “post-pandemic” movie tickets! (to Godzilla vs. Kong) We will definitely be splurging on the concessions.

We went mini-golfing with another couple from our bible study and their friend. It was our first time hanging out as a couple with anyone from our bible study, doing a pre-pandemic activity that wasn’t a social-distanced hike or walk around the neighborhood. It was exciting! We had transitioned to a new church last year, just before the pandemic hit. And by the time we joined a bible study, everything had gone virtual. It’s weird that we’ve known the people in our bible study for about a year now, but have only seen each other in-person a handful of times and only very briefly.

We celebrated Cindy’s sister’s birthday! She’s officially had 2 birthdays during the pandemic. And they seem to book-end the whole pandemic. Her last birthday was marked by the start of Stay-At-Home orders. At the last minute, all her birthday plans & restaurant reservations got cancelled which was a huge bummer. Her birthday this year, however, is marked by the beginning of reopening and return to normalcy. She got to dine-in at a restaurant to celebrate!

And finally, there are the vaccines! This week was “vaccine week” for us. Cindy received her second dose, Jake received his first dose, and Cindy’s dad received his first dose. Now, the majority of Cindy’s family and about half of Jake’s family is vaccinated! We can all hang out with a little more peace of mind now. We are soo looking forward to spending more time with our families (without the fear).

We can’t believe it’s been a year of this “pandemic life“. A year ago, we thought this pandemic be short-lived– we definitely didn’t expect it to last a whole year. It will be hard to break out of the comfortable routine we’ve settled in to. Working from home has been so nice, but we’re excited for a return to normalcy. We’re excited for hanging out with friends and family without fear, for being able to actually go places, and for dining out at restaurants. Eating take-out at home was nice at first, but it just isn’t the same as sitting in a restaurant.

Anyway, we conclude with these 2 random pics of us. A bump update for Cindy and a nice pic for Jake!