By Assata Akil
Like most of you I am so done with the Pandemic. I like to think of myself as a pretty tolerable and laid back kinda girl but enough is enough! Covid is becoming the bully that won’t go away. It’s taken our lunch money, canceled recess and still wants to lurk around trying to see what else it can get. Outside of the horrible health crisis Covid has graced us with, it affected many of our incomes and trying to not sound too shallow- has totally put a damper on my social life as far as adventuring around the world like I used to.
Do you remember the refreshing evening walks with friends soaking up the carribean air of the good life in the Yucatan? Those days and feelings of nostalgia are now a thing of the past. Yes, of course you can still stroll freely down Paseo Montejo but now you are forced to do so with a cover over your face blocking you from said fresh Caribbean air-no matter how hot the day. Can you recall the flirty looks with strangers passing by? The feeling of, “you had me at hello”. Will the Covid generation understand falling in love at first sight?
In today’s reality we are measured by our eyes and our style (or lack there of ) in the choices of our masks. We express ourselves with our cubrebocas. We now have to put the chocolatin aside and look a little deeper into those said eyes. The seeker must decide in an instant if the masked mystery person is worth the reveal.
Are we finding ourselves forced into not being so shallow in our choices because of Covid regulations? Well, I for one have been maskfished plenty of times since the Pandemic has started and I am a happily married woman. Just recently I was literally maskfished by my repairman. He serviced my house many times but when I responded to an ad made by his wife on Facebook Marketplace when he opened the door maskless he had to show me his ID to prove he was indeed the man I opened my home to many times before! Without his mask I had no idea who he was! In sharing that, I can just imagine the dating scene has to be even more tricky when it comes to the grand “Mask Reveal”. From what I have gathered the dating scene has indeed become more complex.
To Covid Vaccinate or Not debates are something people want to avoid like topics of Politics and Religion while others proudly post their vaccination on their dating profiles. Are we going too far? Are we not far enough? When Loving in the time of Covid Is someone’s vaccination record something that you want to know on the first date or is it something like most things, you gradually find out about the person? Let’s find out together while desiring and anticipating love during the time of Covid.