As businesses open more fully and vaccinated people begin to leave their quarantine bubbles for the first time in over a year, KCRW asked listeners who have received their shots: How are you living differently now?
For Lisa Gray, getting vaccinated meant she could start hosting Sunday dinner with her family of four again.
“I have two adult kids. One lives in Redondo and one lives in Van Nuys. We get together every Sunday for dinner, which of course stopped when everything shut down,” she said.
They quickly pivoted to virtual dinners over a video platform called Discord. Now that she and her husband, Bill, are fully vaccinated, they’ve made another pivot.
“Once the CDC said fully vaccinated people could gather with one other household, we switched up the routine, and they started alternating weekends. Alex came first, and William joined dinner over Discord, and we’ve alternated weekends ever since.”
Their latest Sunday supper included lamb burgers with a mushroom cream sauce and Brussels sprouts with bacon. Alex eyed the food enviously from the laptop screen. They talked about work, the kids’ vaccination appointments, and plans for their first family vacation in July.
“The pandemic hasn't been so bad for my husband and I [sic], but neither child is married, and my daughter lives alone. So I’m just very happy to have that physical connection again with them,” said Gray. “There's nothing like a hug from your kid to just make the world right and to know that they're really okay.”
Alex and William still have to get their second shots. Once everyone is fully vaccinated, the entire family is planning to spend a belated Mother’s Day weekend together in mid-May.