Appearances and Reality--When Are We Back to Normal?

 I think part of the gloom about the country must be perception--we don't see the country as having rebounded back to normal.  One indicator:  rush-hour traffic.  I don't know what it's like elsewhere in the country, but in Reston the parkway used to often have some backups aroun 9:15, when I was crossing on my way to the garden or out for my walk.  Even when there weren't backups the traffic was pretty heavy, especially for someone who remembers the time when it was a two-lane road, not a four-land divided highway.

But not these days.  During the height of the pandemic there was little traffic. Now the traffic is heavier, but I've not seen any backups since April 2020.  My ingrained definition of "normal" is heavy traffic and backups; by that definition we aren't back to normal yet.