For the third time in 14 months, I’ve gone to a restaurant and sat on their patio with other people.

The first time was for Sarah’s birthday last month, and we hadn’t yet been vaccinated. People’s interpretation of “wear a mask except when you’re eating or drinking” was too lax for my taste, so I told Rudi I wouldn’t be repeating the experiment until I’d had a shot.

Last week, post-shot #2, I went out for drinks after my volleyball game. I didn’t yet have full immunity, but given the latest info on outdoor spread, I decided I could take the chance.

Tonight, Sarah and I went out for pizza. We talked about her garden and past work evaluations (we’ve both worked places where they’ve asked supervisors not to rank employees as “excellent” on their annual reviews) and upcoming travel (she’s going to go see one of her oldest friends next month; I’m going to see my family later in May). It was so … normal.

I’m not ready to eat indoors yet. But it is a nice feeling to be comfortable eating outside again, particularly as we’re about to head into the time of year when that’s nicest.