Mask Off!

What made you happy today?

“I was just happy to see my friends’ faces, their whole faces.”

“I was happy we could take our masks off, it’s been a long time since we took them off.”

“We are breathing the air, just like we breathe it when we are at home.”

“I like seeing my friends’ whole faces, and seeing what they are feeling.”

“I could hear people, it was easy to hear what people were saying.”

“I could see everyone at recess.”

“It feels like, like it’s normal again.”

New Jersey’s mask mandate was lifted on Monday. I didn’t know what to expect when I came into school in the morning. What I was met with were smiling faces. Smiling faces. Smiling faces of children who I knew, but didn’t know. Who knew me, but didn’t actually know me. Because we are our faces. And we are our voices. And masks hide a big part of who we are.

I thank God for the protections put in place for the last two years. No one knew what to actually do, erring on the side of caution seemed to be the smart thing to do. It’s been a rough two years. And this, this third March since knowing Covid, is another March spent writing here as part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge. But where two years ago we wrote in disbelief and last year we wrote in acceptance, this year we write in hope. I hope you enjoyed reading my students comments during Closing Circle yesterday. I couldn’t have put it any better than they did!