8 - No-Contact Takeout. Isn't it amazing how quickly restaurateurs arranged hassle-free takeout when they had to? You order online, pay in advance, and pop your trunk for the food without saying a word. Why would we ever want to give that up?

7 - Zooming. Sure, some business meetings work better when participants are all in the same room. But with Zoom, OMG, no commuting, no waiting, no schmoozing. And, no shoes? No problem.

6 - Excuses. There will never be a better excuse than the pandemic. "Sorry, I can't come over to see how well your herb garden is doing." "No, I can't go shopping for patio furniture." "Alas, I can't schedule that colonoscopy right now." It's not me, it's the pandemic.

5 - Sweatpants. The last time I bothered with zippered pants was March 6, 2020.

4 - No traffic. If by chance you had to drive somewhere during sheltering, what a breeze it was! To my utter astonishment, a two-hour drive to San Francisco during the pandemic took... two hours.

3 - Grazing. When you're cloistered at home, three meals a day can easily become five or six. Nothing takes your mind off not having anything to do like a second lunch, and a third Bloody Mary.

2 - Amazon. The Bezos behemoth isn't going away, but during the pandemic it was a lifeline to everything from electronics to groceries to over-priced toilet paper. How Amazon cajoled the Postal Service to deliver on Sunday, I'll never know.

1 - Masks. OK, masks are a nuisance and, for some, a political distraction. But like the Lone Ranger, many of us enjoyed hiding some emotion behind a mask. No smiles. No frowns. And, when my dentist told me I needed a new tooth I worried about having a gaping hole for a few weeks. "No one will ever know," he said. "Just wear a mask."

I hope whatever the next normal is like, it retains some of what we came to enjoy during the recent normal.

(c) Peter Funt. Distributed by Cagle syndicate.