If you would’ve told me at this time last year that my “two weeks” off of school would turn into this year full of “surprises”, to say the least, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.
A year ago today we were ten days into the quarantine that would last far longer than anyone expected. Last year as a sophomore, I was expecting to just get an extended spring break, not end my second year of high school abruptly and have the pandemic drag on to my junior year.
A year ago today, my day consisted of walking a couple miles with my friend, daydreaming about my 16th birthday, doing some online classes, and working out in my backyard.
Almost every day from when school first shut down to when school started again I went on a daily walk with my friend, Abbie, and my two dogs. I also got really into working out over quarantine; I enjoyed doing YouTube workouts such as Sydney Cummings, Pamela Reif, and Chloe Ting.
I also got pretty invested into the app TikTok. I had downloaded the app about six months before the lockdown began but I never really had the time to go on it. However, when quarantine hit, I had a new found love for the app, like a lot of teens did.
Lucky for me, just before the pandemic began, I adopted a kitten. So, the new time I had at home gave me a chance to spend a lot of time with him, which I am very thankful for.
Even though I had a new kitten, adjusting to life at home all the time was anything but easy. I was almost always bored. Me and my mom played board games almost every night after she was told she had to work from home, which was less than a week after my school was shut down.
Unbelievably, I also really started to miss school last March. I was dumbfounded because I didn’t have any school work I needed to get done. It was pretty hard to not be able to see my friends every day and never being able to see my extended family anymore. That being said, I am beyond thankful that we have been able to have in-person school this year.
However, the pandemic really got difficult for me in June of last year. My grandpa was in an assisted living facility and I couldn’t see him for several months. My mom and I would sit outside his window on nice days, but it was hard to not be in there with him. Then, on the morning of June 1st, we received the call that he died. I never got to say goodbye to my grandpa. The last hug I gave him was months before he passed away.
It was also in June that many things were starting to get cancelled, including my mission trip to Arizona. I was really looking forward to this trip and I was pretty sad when it was cancelled. However, I wasn’t expecting my second mission trip to Jamaica to be cancelled a year from then due to ongoing COVID concerns.
As I mentioned, most of my days in quarantine were spent daydreaming about my 16th birthday. However, on my actual birthday, April 29th, everything was closed including the DMV. So, I couldn’t get my license until about a month and a half after my birthday. My parents made the best of the unfortunate situation and arranged a drive-by birthday parade for me. It was really cool to see everyone come together for my birthday and to simply just see my friends and family again for the first time in months.
If you told me during this “two week” quarantine on this day last year that I would still have to wear a mask everywhere I went, my aunt would pass away from COVID, and things are still getting cancelled, I would’ve been pretty shocked.
This past year has been quite the whirlwind and I’m just thankful that my family and friends are still healthy and life is getting somewhat back to normal.
