I was told to keep looking at the red dot, which had green light shinning from all directions. It smelled like something was burning. There was a beeping noise, a racketing sound, and the doctor saying what sounded like gibberish behind a mask. I knew I should have been breathing but I was too preoccupied with the sounds, smell and colors around me. This was my experience in lasik surgery two months ago.

I have tried for the past few weeks to not spend as much time in front of a computer screen outside of work because my eyes are still adjusting and I wanted to make sure I was taking good care of them during this recovery period. This also meant that I havent taken the time to write.

But now, with fresh eyes, I also am starting to feel anew, like I am shedding a layer of skin, getting rid of the winter fur, coming out a cocoon. After a year of pandemic, a year of much uncertainty, the eye surgery for me marked a change – to not have to put in contacts every morning, to not have to worry about where my glasses were, to not have eyes so dry that my contacts would fall out. It gave me excitement to be able to see clearly with my own two eyes.

And the eye surgery was just the beginning of change, the start of a different kind of year, with hopes for new adventures, with vaccines arriving in many countries and dreams of better days to come.

While most days still feel the same, working in a computer from home, each day, I am trying to be curious, not just by what I see now with my refined eyes, but after what last year brought to our lives. I am amazed by the ability of the vaccines to be put in peoples’ arms only a year after we detected the spread of the virus. I am bewildered by our abilities to adapt to a virtual work environment and still have an impact with what we do. I am touched that we have been able to still make moments together, with small groups, or virtually to feel that human connection. I am grateful to have felt the love of family and friends no matter where we are confined to in the world.

No one was unaffected by the changes that last year brought, but as we go into a new season, as we start to see light at the end of the tunnel, I wish to continue to renew my vision (not physically again), and be grateful for what is there and always be hopeful for what is to come.