As of this week we will be able to meet up with family and friends in groups of six outdoors.
Imagine a few months ago being told such a concession would spark such joy.
How quickly we've all adapted to a strange reality that has coined the phrase the 'new normal' even though it is anything but normality.
That contact with people, albeit at a two metre distance, is so important to those struggling with loneliness and isolation.
Those older people who are not shielding or those living alone who have managed the last six weeks with contact only via technology.
There is another group that we have largely overlooked during this crisis.
The teenagers and adolescents who have had their lives upended in lockdown.
I'm minded that while two months is a long time in any of our lives for a 15-year-old that is an eternity.
I was a fairly miserable teenager, I wouldn't go back to that time for a rollover lottery win.
But through all the drudgery, confusion and the questioning of every aspect of social interaction, I found joy and escapism in reading and learning things about places far removed from the grey and miserable surroundings of 1970s/80s Belfast.
You would imagine teenagers would be the most difficult demographic to convince to abide by the restrictions.
The science indicates that they are at low risk from coronavirus, coupled with the built in belief that comes with youth that you are somehow invincible, and that should have been a recipe for mass disobedience.
However, they have been largely compliant, and for that they should be praised but also given proper guidance and information about what they can expect their lives to be like going forward.
If remote online learning is to be a permanent part of their education then it must be looked at in the round in terms of their emotional wellbeing.
Adolescent depression, not just treated like a temper tantrum but given serious consideration by educators as to how they can support teenagers away from the social setting of the classroom.
And as general members of the public we must also give some leeway to those teenagers who have been glued to a phone or iPad for weeks and are now excited that they can finally meet up with friends in a park or open space.
They have as much right to be there as the dog walkers and runners.
Let us remember that they have had months taken out their lives and many will transition from school to college or work, without ever being able to see or say goodbye to friends and teachers who have been a formative part of their lives.
I am also minded that while we live in a more peaceful and arguably prosperous society than the one I grew up in, one with strict child protection and exploitation laws, there is still an uneven playing field.
Being at home has been a joyful time for some children.
They've got to spend time with usually busy parents, there's been endless baking, family quizzes, walks and general bonding, with some structured online learning that will ensure they don't fall behind.
This will be a period of their lives they look back on as adults with fondness.
But for others home is a not a place where education is able to thrive, there is no disposable income for cake baking and pizza night.
The monthly wifi bill is usually the first 'luxury' to go when belts need tightened.
They may live with siblings with disabilities, with parents with mental health or addiction problems, instead of being cared for they may be the carers.
This period in their lives will see them fall even further behind than their classmates, with all the knock to their confidence that comes at that age with feeling stupid or inadequate.
And so that is why I find myself in a rare space of agreeing with the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland who has appealed to Catholic grammar schools to "suspend" academic selection in 2020.
Writing as Archbishop of Armagh, Archbishop Eamon Martin said it would be in the "best interests" of children and urged schools in his diocese not to use selection to admit pupils in September 2021.
The argument against academic selection can wait for another day, but in meantime let us not further punish the children of the pandemic generation for a situation not of their making.
