Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen

When I listen to the second aria of BWV 56, "Endlich, endlich wird mein Joch" ("Finally, finally my yoke"), I think about the day I got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. It was a beautiful Monday, and my vaccination location was downtown. While I waited for my husband to have his appointment after mine, I went down to the Boston Public Garden for the first time in a long time. All the trees were in spring bloom, and I also felt a bloom and a dance in my heart, something I had almost forgotten the feeling of. This aria has that same feeling for me, of bubbling joy and hope that bursts through spontaneously.