The smell of alcohol pierces my nostrils. My co-workers frantically disperse hand sanitizer in pocket-sized tubes to prevent the spread of you. I live in the Land of Smiles, which your suffocating masks have smothered. You not only incited hysteria, you robbed us all of the intimacy of touch.

I did not know it at the time, but over the next weeks and months, this smile and the lovely woman who bears it would make this place my home.

There will be slumps and highs and faster and slower points, but for now, things are good. I won’t say I’m adjusted, only that I’m adjusting.