TODAY AT THE CHURCH O’ THE PINES it is gray and gloomy, with a few snowflakes dusting the limbs of the deacons. But it is a DAY of CELEBRATION!

Because after months on end of terrible, awful, no good, very bad days, this is the day that the first vaccines roll out—into trucks and onto airplanes. And after countless occasions to grieve and mourn and worry—which are not over yet—it would be foolish and shortsighted NOT to note THIS day.

And as the first vaccines reach frontline healthcare workers, this also marks another opportunity to recognize and cheer their heroic efforts to keep us all safe and alive, often at great personal cost to their own mental, physical, and spiritual health. And to give virtual hugs to all the folks in elder-care facilities, which have been so hard hit. They will also get the earliest vaccines, as they should. For the rest of us, it will likely be some weeks or months of waiting for our turn, but it is coming. There is light at the end of this long, dark tunnel, and with so little to celebrate through these months of sickness, death, and mismanagement, we can afford to smile and say thanks to medical and scientific miracle-workers. A day to celebrate. AND… to keep wearing masks and being careful.