May is one of my favorite months. It always feels so hopeful. The dormant trees bud leaves and flowers bloom.

It’s also a time when students of all ages move a step forward in their growth. Kindergartners become first-graders, and seniors are set free to begin their lives as young adults - so much hope, so much joy.

Last year at this time, all of these milestones were being reached, but without the fanfare. No big graduation parties. No family coming together to celebrate.

Schools tried to do the best they could for the Class of 2020 - drive-thru graduations. We all made the best of a bad situation.

This year, we are once again holding those proms, graduations and celebrating together. What a difference a year makes.

Once again, I’m excited about life’s potential; I’m excited for the future of our youth. Once again, I am hopeful.

I’m also thankful to all of the scientists, those brilliant-minded people, who figured out that they could use the same method they used to create a vaccine for SARS and MERS, and do that for COVID-19. Quickly, they were able to create the vaccine to treat the most-deadly pandemic since the Spanish influenza in 1918.

I’m thankful to God for creating people who could figure this out. We all have gifts to offer the world, and this was theirs.

For months, I’ve lived in fear of dying from this disease. The first of each month, I would say to myself, “Yes, you made it another month.”

I’m a realist. I realized that my chances of getting through the disease easily were limited. My best bet of seeing tomorrow was to not get sick at all. Fortunately, I never got COVID-19. but I knew many, many people who did. I knew one who died, and I am close to people who knew people who died from it. At this point, we probably all know someone who died from it.

When the vaccine became available, I was biting at the bit to get it. I scoured the computer to find it available to me as soon as I was eligible for it, and I didn’t have any adverse effects from it.

For me, the vaccine gave me my life back. April 1 was the first month that I didn’t high-five myself for making it another month. I didn’t need to anymore, because COVID-19 held nothing over me anymore. No more could it control my life. No more could it keep me from seeing my loved ones and embracing them.

I have family who don’t want to get the vaccine. One is afraid of it, and a couple have had the disease and feel their antibodies are enough protection. For the one who is afraid, I do hope he will see that it isn’t new technology, just revamped for a different purpose.

I know for me, I finally have peace of mind, and that’s worth everything. I’m free at last.