Twitter was on fire at the early hours of Friday . The president finally uttered the words that everyone yearned to hear over the past months in his long and seemingly endless speech.

"With that, I wish to announce that effective Monday next week, all schools; primary, secondary and tertiary institutions inclusive, are to commence academic activities. All workers in government institutions are expected to be in their places of work. In fact, those who do not resume in their work place on the stated date will be penalized. All markets are to be opened with immediate effect, the curfew is lifted, you are free to go outside....."

In no time, '#OutsideAgain' was trending. There were different categories of tweets. Lovers went on about how they couldn't wait to curl up with their better halves. Students about how they couldn't recall their level in school or course of study. The empathic citizens called out to the government to learn from the past and change for good, while mourning those lost in the fight against the virus. Others were more concerned with sympathizing with the virus on its defeat.

The real world wasn't left out either. The neighborhoods experienced more noise than before. The laughter of children playing filled the air. One could tell from the intensity of their noise that they had been starved of fun. Drivers exchanged pleasantries with the sounds from their horns with smiles and laughter through their wound down windows that yelled 'happy survival!' Even nature seemed to celebrate with us as the sounds of crowing cocks and chirping birds were more lucid.

In the market places, people shopped with enthusiasm, although not eager to shake hands and exchange hugs yet, the women yelled their greetings with so much love and genuineness unlike the case before the lock down.

Probably, the days spent as inmates to a virus had made us realize how less we loved, how we took some moments for granted, and how less we valued life.

The experience had inflicted a scar on us all. We were like new borns learning about life from the scratch.

But for how long?