Today is 7^th May 2020. In a perfect world, I would be boarding my flight today to Honolulu for attending an immunology conference! But of course, everything is canceled. Full disclosure. I was really upset when the conference got canceled. Now, come on, who would not look forward to an all expenses covered trip to Hawaii? I was excited at the prospect of attending talks from distinguished scientists and interact with researchers from different parts of the world. And then, like everyone else, we would explore the city and have some fun in the evening. My colleague had purchased tickets well in advance to go swimming with the sharks. I wanted to go snorkeling. So much so that one night I even dreamt that I was snorkeling in the pristine waters of Hawaii. Oh, the places you can go in your dreams! Clearly, our conference and the highly desired trip to Hawaii, now canceled, were topics for discussion in our lab’s virtual coffee hour yesterday. Another colleague of mine, who was also supposed to attend this conference suggested we make some margaritas and drink from coconut shells at home!

So, with a somewhat heavy heart, I woke up in the morning today and sat down in front of my computer, with a glass of freshly made fruit smoothie in my hand. I opened the window to let in some fresh cool and crispy air from outside. It is a beautiful calm morning. Our dog, Waffle, just sat down in front of me with her soulful “puppy eyes”, trying to convince me to play “fetch” with her. But I am determined to start my first sci comm article for my blog today.

As I write, I just heard the news that our city will be entering Phase I of reopening post lockdown next Monday and we get to go back to work, at a severely reduced efficiency of course. Woohoo! I definitely will drink to that today (literally)!