I was back at my parish church for Mass for the first time in a year this weekend. [View all]

Everything was right for me: two vaccines, sunny day, feeling well.
I plotted my day to go to Saturday afternoon Mass.
Parked fairly easily, found the interior as I had been told - every other pew blocked off.
Crowd light compared to last year.
Instead of persons taking the collection, a central basket was in the center near the entrance to the church.
Large hymnals replaced by selections printed in the bulletin.

However, I felt an interior joy, excitement mixed with peace, to be back in this "home for my soul".
I feel I've aged a lot during this lost year - slower and not as steady afoot.
But I'm back in the familiar place where I was baptized so many decades ago, and where my spouse and I brought our children each Sunday throughout their formative years.

Life will be good again.