MINIPROMPT! What Post-Pandemic Activity Are You Most Excited For?

In the United States, we’re seeing vaccination rates climb, and it’s giving us hope that someday, somehow, we’ll be out of this pandemic. It’s the light at the end of the tunnel that we’ve all been waiting for. So we asked our staff writers…

When the world is safe to return to normal, what is the thing you have been unable to do that you are MOST excited to do again?

Sarah Razner

As the pandemic edges closer and closer to what we hope is its end, what excites me most is the prospect of getting to see the world again. This past year, my primary way to experience it was through viewing it in movies and TV, and imagining it in books—the Austrian Alps of The Sound of Music; the crazy awesome architecture of Singapore found in Crazy Rich Asians; and the English countryside of Emma and Bridgerton. To say the least, the wanderlust is very, very strong. Once vaccinations have made their way into many more arms and it is safe travel again, I look forward to hopping in a car or onto a plane and seeing more of the people and places I love. It doesn’t matter the destination only a few hours away. Each venture into our reopening world will be a journey.

Ariel Cross

Live
Action
Role
Play

GIVE ME BACK MY LARPS. I need to go play pretend with my friends in the woods. I yearn to bonk my fellow nerds with foam swords and throw little packets of birdseed to cast my character’s spells. The absolute ache in my soul for LARP and good people to play with is deep and abiding. Please, by the will of all that is good in this world, just let me LARP again.

Sydney Walters

What I look forward to the most once this pandemic is wiped off the face of the planet, is building trust with people again.

To not have to find out that a family member does not believe in a virus for strange political reasons, despite the ear-rattling bell of it’s daily death toll.

Or that an old friend from high school thought that being young and having a “tank” body meant that they could go out to crowded bars every day, unmasked and coughing into the air for their rebellious Snap Stories.

Or that a former colleague believed that this whole virus was meant to strengthen us all, so that the best way to defeat it was to spread it to as many people as they could.

In this new world, I look forward to my new sense of judgment and trusting the right people.

Kelaine Conochan

My post-pandemic fantasy is a Sunday morning. I’ve eaten a banana to take the edge off. I grab my high tops, my headband, and a ball pump and make the drive up to the gymnasium at St. Albans. It’s time to get some buckets.

Since last March, I’ve missed playing sports more than anything. I miss having an emotional outlet for my competitive streak, and I miss all the outlet passes that lead to fast break layups. I miss the laughs and high fives and post-game burrito bowls.

Getting back out there—on the field, court, or race course—is going to be the best feeling in the world. I can’t wait to get my shot so we can all put up some shots in the gym.

Jillian Conochan (plagiarizing Sir Duckworth, Ph. D)

Pour up (Drank), head shot (Drank)

Sit down (Drank), stand up (Drank)

Pass out (Drank), wake up (Drank)

Faded (Drank), faded (Drank)

Dilane Mitchell

There is exactly one thing I miss. Movie theatre popcorn. I don’t care if it is pretty much cold and so salty it makes my lips raw. I want it, and I want to sit in a dark room and watch movies on enormous screens. No, it is not the same if I just popcorn and watch it at home. It is not.

Josh Bard

I bet you don’t remember it, because I barely do, but we used to be able to be spontaneous. We could go out and not have to plan for everything. Every now and then we’d be out and run into a friend (remember running into friends?) and amend your plans and just go with it. Do you know how much I want to just go with it? Can I take a double shot of that vax?

Heather Shaff

I absolutely cannot wait to ditch masks. More than anything, I miss smiling at people! We all seem to have gotten pretty good at expressing ourselves with our eyes, but nothing beats the connection, the little zip of electricity you get from sharing a smile.

I can’t wait for the day when I wake up from a dream panicking because I forgot my mask, and then realize, oh, yeah, I don’t need a damn mask anymore!!!

That weirdo you’ll see dancing down the street? Yeah, that’ll be me.

Natalie Brandt

I miss travel. Real travel. My peripatetic soul has withered some this past year. I may have taken a few flights, for work and to visit a land-locked friend. But I wore a mask, kept my head down, checked whatever box needed checking, and returned home the same person as before.

I need to get lost somewhere. Ask strangers for directions. Smell other cities and stumble into weird little bookshops. To feel away and free, but also safe because I can go back home. I can’t wait to miss being home.

Eric Mochnacz

Hugs. Rib crushing, arms completely around you, lasts for more than 30 seconds hugs. There will be tears and snot and all the other things we were told not to get on other people for the past year.

Breathing on and/or near people without being utterly fearful I may be unknowingly infecting them with a virus. The creation of new time metrics—B.C. now stands for Before Corona and A.V. stands for After Vaccine. I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.

And lots and lots of sex.

Mr. Joe Walker

I honestly don’t know what I’m most looking forward to. And what will “normal” be?

Our world and our lives are constantly changing, so in tandem our normal changes too. Think about how many times before the pandemic that you expressed wanting something to be normal again. But you don’t get that “again.” You eventually, in some semblance, come to terms with whatever changed.

Normal is, subjectively, transformational.

Marybeth McDonough

I can’t wait to introduce my daughter to the world. When we shut down, Kenna was only three months old. She’s spent every first holiday in small, intimate celebrations; she hasn’t met all of her family or our friends. I want to sit her up on a carousel horse, clean sticky Italian ice off her hands, and watch her make random friends at the park or the beach. It’s also been that long since my son, who has autism and cannot wear a mask, has been able to do practically anything fun—even stroll around Target! The pandemic has not only meant a pause button for him, it’s also been a rewind in many ways. When this ends, I’m hoping to move forward from the cyclical regression. It’s been my own reboot of Groundhog’s Day, but I’m forcing my laughs at this point.

What are YOU most excited to do? We’d love to hear from you. Tweet us to join the conversation @thepromptmag!