A letter from June 4th, 2020

Dear FutureMe, So im sitting in my bed in MKE thinking about how crazy life is right now. Here we all thought 2020 would be THEE year. But it has definitely been very far off from any of my personal predictions. If you told me that I would have to wear a mask to go to the grocery store or wouldn’t be able to hug my friends whenever I felt like it or wipe down my Amazon package with a Clorox wipe or have my junior season be cancelled or not be able to double dip in my family’s peanut butter jar... I would’ve told you you’re out of your mind. It’s hard to imagine what “normal” was before this. I can’t believe I ever packed into the Rave with a thousand other sweaty people jumping up and down to Galantis trying to squeeze our way to the front row. Or drank from used red solo cups for a game of beer pong. Beyond those random examples, I don’t remember what it was like to live without fear of getting sick. Without fear of bringing a virus back into my home with me after leaving the house. How did I ever take such a simple life for granted like that? Despite the crazy, more negative, things that have come out of COVID 19.. there have definitely been small blessings in my life. Getting to spend an extra 2 months with family that I probably won’t ever have again was special, despite the many times I felt like busting out. Mom and I have watched too many stupid movies throughput this quarantine to last us a lifetime. I’ve realized no movie will ever be good enough for her to not fall asleep minutes in. Except maybe Bohemian Rhapsody. I took time to paint and draw and do artistic things that I most likely wouldn’t have had the time to do otherwise. I have seen the world and community come together in ways that are more than inspiring. I have realized how fast your life can change in the blink of an eye and how everything you thought could never happen, can in fact happen. I’ve realized and appreciated my friends that much more after being robbed of 2 months of college life with them. I’ve realized that I didn’t need a crazy big 21st birthday party to have a great birthday. I realized that it’s always about having the real ones around you in order to make something great. Because at the end of the day, I don’t have a favorite place. I have my favorite people and when I’m with my favorite people it becomes my favorite place. Aside from a global pandemic, George Floyd was just ********. Yes, it is 2020 and racism still exists. I just walked along in a protest in MKE and it was one of the most powerful things I have ever experienced. People of every color and background coming together in a peaceful way to fight the injustices that are taking place. I hope that when I read this next that racism doesn’t exist. I hope that white cops ******* innocent black men and women doesn’t exist. I hope racist, ********* cops don’t exist. And I hope to God that if these cops are still around, that they are held ducking accountable for their actions and we have a system finally in place that puts these monsters in jail. I am tired of this happening, therefore I can’t even imagine how tired people of color are. It has to stop. Now. Yup. Like I said, life is pretty crazy right now. The world is in such an unprecedented time and I hope that I make it to reading this again in the near future. 5 years, see you then - 2025. Woah that sounds weird. Love always, Your past self