A letter from April 3rd, 2020

Dear future self, This is a VERY crazy time we are currently living in. It is April 3rd 2020 and as of this moment almost the entire world is on lockdown due to COVID-19. It was one of those things that crept up on us then completely took in what felt like five hours. I remember sitting in class on March 13th the day before my 16th birthday being reassured that we would be back to school on monday and everything would blow over. Little did we all know that would be the last day of the 2019-2020 school year. I remember going home that day and reading every headline. Although it was scary, it didn’t hit me how serious this was. It felt like I was living in a dream. However as I sit here three weeks later doing all my schoolwork online I am forced to face this new reality. Although this is scary, I always try to look on the bright side of situations. For example, I have learned the importance of physical human connection. The ability to give your best friend a hug after a bad day. Or give your favorite teacher a high five as you walk into class. Or even just sitting in a classroom surrounded by your friends. You better believe I am never going to complain about going to school again. I have also learned the true power of social media. Everyone talks about it, but I have not really experienced it first hand until this pandemic. Although we can not physically see each other, every night me and my friends all get on FaceTime for a couple of hours just to talk and laugh. It is nice to be able to get our minds off everything for a while. And lastly… the importance of puzzles. Yes, I said puzzles. Me, my mom, and my older sister have successfully completed ten 1000 piece puzzles since we went on lockdown. Will it get us anywhere in life? No. But has it provided us with entertainment? Definitely, and that’s all that really matters right now. Looking ahead, I hope Abby five years from now is taking this experience and applying everything I learned from it to my life going forward. I hope you are continuing to appreciate being able to run to the store when we run out or butter to make cookies. Or giving someone a high five. This is getting very long and I feel like I’m repeating myself, but I hope you are doing well. I hope you are happy. Here's to the next five years :)