A letter from May 14th, 2020

Dear FutureMe, The following is an assessment from an English class you took in your sophomore year of high school: Honors Women’s Literature. You were told to write on these four questions. This was during the first few months of quarantine when the Corona Virus had swept through the world. Hopefully you receive this. 1. How are you feeling about the quarantine and why? I am okay with this hiatus from the craziness of life. Instead of traveling to school 20-30min there and back each day, I am at home. School life has become easier, and although I miss track I think I needed this break. I miss seeing my friends, well the ones I like, everyday, but I think this escape from everything in my life is good for my personal growth as a person. Yes, I do get slightly bored sometimes but Netflix and YouTube usually help with that. I’m not as tired anymore. I actually have energy to finish my homework, well sometimes, I kinda procrastinate everything. Im sad though that this experience is at the expense of thousands of people’s deaths. I sometimes feel guilty that our enjoyment of a break comes at the price of other people’s suffering. 2. What are the specific things that have been most affected by the quarantine; how and why? The top three things that have been most affected by the quarantine is my schooling, social life, and athletics. School is now online and school is only from 10:00-2:45 with Friday’s off. I like that honestly and I have more time to do my homework. My social life has been almost entirely been cut off. I try not to go out because then I have to wear a mask, and I don’t like that. I can’t really see my friends without risking exposure. Lastly, my spring sport, track, is no longer having a season. This past weekend would have been state, but not anymore because of COVID-19. We are given at home workouts but it’s hard to keep up with it. There’s no motivation. There’s no season. 3. How has the quarantine specifically effected your family both positively and negatively? Both of my parents are in the medical world. My father is a Physician Assistant (PA) while my mom is a nurse in Pre-OP. My father has been in contact with a person with COVID, and it’s almost scary to think that my parents could have it. My mom’s work, at a time, didn’t let the staff wear masks, which doesn’t really make any since. They both have been a little more cautious compared to other families. All of their cases are larger than before, even though only critical patients are allowed to into the hospital. I guess that’s a lot of negative. Some positive I would say is we don’t spend too much on takeout; we try to cook to save money. 4. How have your relationships with your friends changed throughout the quarantine? Well, it does seem harder to connect with others during this time, I guess being in person with someone really makes a difference. I still don’t consider myself having lots of friends so that hasn’t really changed knowing who my actual friends are, because most of them are fake. But I guess it just goes to show those who are your actual friends, friendship takes effort and time, and if one or either of y’all aren’t willing to put the extra work in then y’all aren’t friends. It is weird to only communicate with some of them on the phone, one gets used to seeing them on a daily at school. I’ve seen only a few in person over the break so I guess I’m okay for right now. I know this quarantine will be lifted one day so there is still hope yet.