A letter from June 14th, 2020

Dear Leah, Five years ago today you were at home in HHI for the summer because of the COVID pandemic. Does it feel a world away? I bet it does. Wherever you are right now, whatever you're doing. Please take a moment to be grateful that you can go outside and meet people and do normal things. I haven't been inside a store in nearly 3 months, which was when we got groceries after first arriving down here. Now we do all of our groceries by delivery and we sanitize all of them before they come in the house. All of the internships I applied for were canceled including the one at the Carter Center that I was a finalist for. Race riots are happening across the nation. People are calling to abolish the police. President Trump is in his 4th year of making our lives hell. I had to leave Ann Arbor two months early and miss so much stuff that I had planned for the spring. It hurts me to think about all the times with friends I was supposed to have that never happened. Avery didn't get to have her high school graduation. The thing that hurts the most is knowing that this fall and maybe the whole school year is going to be completely hampered by the pandemic. I love college so much and I feel like I really am in the best part of my life and it stings to have that taken away from me. It can never be replaced. Leah in 5 years... I wonder where you are in the world. I would bet you're in DC. You're 26 now... did you ever get a chance to go back to Israel or somewhere else abroad and spend some significant time there? I wish I could travel or attend concerts. I can't wait until the day that I can feel like I can plan and dream again. Right now I feel so stuck because the world is stuck and mostly our country is stuck. I am anxious and nervous about the future, but I bet you know that everything is going to turn out great. Our new kitten, Bogie, makes me feel calm and happy though. I also love renting clothing from Nuuly with Avery. I'm lucky to be in a good place to hunker down while most things are not safe to go to. People are starting to go out again and things are opening up, but the pandemic hasn't gotten any better so it's really not wise. It's so tempting to want to just go back to normal, but that's just lying to yourself. You're five years in the future so you know when the pandemic ends. I assume there will be a vaccine in about a year but we get better at managing the spread before then. Oh and did Joe Biden become president? He's not super likable right now so if he did become president I bet he's even less liked in the future. Did he lose re-election? 2020 is half way over and it has truly been a horrible year. I hope the decade has turned around and 2025 is going well. Even if things aren't going well, know that I'm rooting for you and I love you! You are awesome and probably much more awesome than I am! Love, Leah