The happiest of hours

 Remember happy hour? I'm reminiscing about heading to the dive bar after work once in a while with a handful of coworkers to sit on the deck overlooking the metro rail and the bike bath, drinking a pint or two, and swapping silly stories about students, colleagues, and whatever happened that week.

I have not had a happy hour since last March, which is the same boat many of you are in as well. Until this evening. We weren't at a bar, but this first warm day of the season and the two-week mark of our second vaccine doses called for a get-together, a celebration, a night of normalcy. M and I met when we were accepted into our master's program in 2015, and he has remained one of my closest friends in DC. We were resident teachers at the same school, then got hired at a very tough school for our first year solo in the classroom, and then hired back at our dream school and have remained colleagues ever since. We live nearby one another, but his folks are high risk, so when the pandemic hit, he was keeping it tight to keep his parents safe. Over the last year, we have tried to Zoom happy hour a few times and we keep up a little over text, but not being able to pop into each others' classrooms in the morning before school and enjoy a pint after work once in a while has certainly created a gap. 

Oh what a luxury to sit on my porch with him, maskless, chatting about how the year is going, hearing about his brother's puppy, our experiences with having our own teaching residents this year. The sun was giving the evening a glow, and the longed-for normalcy of a hangout was just. so. good. 

I think this is just the beginning. I am so grateful that the community is getting vaccinated, that we are scheming to get back in the classroom with our students and that there is so much hope on the horizon.