My youngest daughter, who is 15, raised her arms triumphantly and expressed her massive sense of relief with the simple words “finally,” “yes,” and “at last.” What had made her day, her week, and probably her whole year was news that her school would open for in-person classes next month.

A year after she and her friends were sent home from middle school, never to return or graduate, rumor and forlorn hope have finally given way to certainty that she will meet the freshmen classmates with whom she has been taking high school lessons via video since August. They can make friends and live the sort of social life we humans are evolved to live, and which children are bursting to enjoy.