My Life in the Pandemic

My Life in the Pandemic Eloise B-R, Class of 2028

My life in the pandemic started great. We had just adopted a dog, and my parents said that if they did not close school the week of March 15th, 2020, they would keep me home. I thought that sounded nice! However, an hour later, my school shut down, and everyone was told to start quarantining. So we stayed at home. At first it was nice, being able to wake at 9:00, and only having a few assignments a week. But then it went downhill. My days started to become the same. There was nothing new happening. Do my work, talk to my friends about how close Easter was, take my dog to the backyard, and go to Greenwood Cemetery. For some reason, I thought that we would just go back to school once Easter passed, and we would just go back to normal.

But we didn’t. It just got worse. Spring break was canceled. That same week, they announced that school was going remote for the rest of the year. We decided to go upstate, and away from the city. There, I had even less to do. All I did was play video games and do school work. It rained so much, I rarely even went outside. Life was never worse. The news was becoming harder and harder to hear. So many deaths. Eventually, school was over, and my closest friends and I celebrated like never before. We couldn’t meet up, but we got on Zoom, and we played video games.

Then the summer began. I went to my friend’s house a lot. We spent loads of time together. I went swimming and jumped on my trampoline. But there was a huge lump in my stomach. Loneliness. My school friends and I were drifting apart. I was becoming more and more anxious and sensitive. I got hurt easily. And if that wasn’t enough, I was about to start at a new school.

I thought this would be horrible for my mental health, but I was very wrong. By the second day, I had become friends with all the girls in my advisory, and with my attached class. After two weeks of orientation, we once again went remote, and I could feel myself getting lonely again. And I suddenly had so much homework! I just started 5th grade, which was middle school at my school. I had trouble understanding my classes, and even more trouble making friends. I was only friends with kids in my class, and I wanted to branch out a bit. When we went back in-person, I was much happier and felt like a whole new person. I was making new friends, and getting better in all my classes. Things finally started to feel normal.