Today, a good friend of mine came over and we went out for an early dinner so that we could get back in time before Kaia went to bed. My friend hadn’t seen Kaia since October, so clearly Kaia had grown and matured quite a bit, so it was cute to see Kaia’s slight shyness around her and eventually how she opened up and became very bubbly and happy to get interaction with my friend.

When we were at dinner tonight, my friend said that since COVID and the global pandemic, she’s barely seen anyone regularly outside of me and maybe two other friends. Everyone else she saw were just friends at work, which doesn’t really count because…. well, that’s work. I looked at her, feeling puzzled.

“But how could you say you see me regularly?” I responded. “Maybe before 2022 and before, but I haven’t seen you in four months!”

But that’s what she meant: seeing people “regularly” since the pandemic began is being redefined. When you used to think seeing people regularly meant 2-3 times a month, now, ‘regularly’ means more like once every 3-4 months. She said that it feels like it takes people a greater effort to see friends now since the pandemic, and she also feels that… not just because of the pandemic, but also because she’s relocated to Staten Island, which she’s realized really does feel like an entire world away.