Eating in a restaurant can be a celebration. It can be a relief for an exhausted mom who has just done too much to think about cooking or washing dishes. It can just be a way to share a moment of friendship and relaxation while you share a pizza and a pitcher of beer.

And it is an opportunity that Pennsylvanians have largely been denied for the past year.

With coronavirus pandemic restrictions, restaurants have faced a long list of things that were off-limits entirely or severely restricted. Gov. Tom Wolf has ordered indoor dining rooms closed or cut back to just 25% or 50%. Alcohol service had to be done with food and was cut off early. At different times, menus had to be disposable or only takeout was allowed.

But now most of that is over. After a year, more than a million positive tests just in the Keystone State and finally the release of three vaccines, things are changing. The alcohol rules are rolled back, with bar service restored. Restaurants that self-certify their compliance can open dining rooms with up to 75% capacity.

It happened just in time for Easter brunches and dinners. It happens as the spring opens doors and makes us crave connection to our friends, family and neighbors. It is something we have wanted so long. With stress and mental health concerns escalating, it is something that we need.

It is also something we need for more bottom line reasons. Restaurants are small businesses. They may not be the gas tank of an economic engine, but they might be that vehicle’s battery — a smaller power source that is easily overlooked until it doesn’t work. Restaurants have been slammed hard by the pandemic. Some owners and their workers, including many low-paid or tip-dependent, have been devastated.

This is the moment we have waited for — the chance to once again meet friends for a sandwich at lunch or go out for a nice dinner. The question now is how long it will last.

That is largely up to us.

What we should have learned over the past year is cause and effect. We have been shown how our behavior can have a butterfly effect on our society and our economy.

We can choose to do what is best for ourselves, our communities and our pocketbooks — or we can accept that we have placed an order we can’t really afford.

— The Tribune-Review/TNS