When everything shut down in March of last year, I didn’t really have a reaction. All I knew was that school was going to be online for a while. At the time, I didn’t really know much about the virus. When the governor announced there would no longer be in-person school for the state of Indiana, a majority of the population started to understand just how bad the virus was.  It was important to stay home and stay safe because of how contagious, serious and potentially deadly, the virus was to many people.

In early May, I lost one of my uncles due to the virus. He had not been feeling well for a few days.  He was taken to the hospital and was immediately admitted because he tested positive for COVID-19. The next morning, he passed away.  I was shocked to hear the news which made me really sad. We were able to have a very small funeral for him, but no more than 25 people could attend.  It felt very awkward being around my aunts, uncles and a few cousins because we all had to wear masks and keep our distance.  It was like we were all strangers. 

During quarantine, I was at home doing the same things that I did when the virus wasn’t around, such as playing video games, watching tv and movies, and playing outside.  I spent time with my family going on walks and playing games.  I got caught up on everything Disney+.  As summer started, quarantine didn’t bother me too much. What started to bother me was that I wasn’t really allowed to spend time with my friends in person.

 After a while, it got a little sad because I missed being able to go places and hang out with friends. On Snapchat, I saw friends hanging out with each other which honestly made me a little upset since I wasn’t able to do that anymore. Facetime was my only option, which was fine, but made me just feel lonely sometimes because Facetime just was not fun and hanging out in person was better because there were more things to do. However, it was right not to see people to be safe from the virus. As the year went on I was still able to have fun, and on some rare occasions, I was able to see friends, but  we were socially distanced and had masks on the whole time. 

The reason I wasn’t allowed to spend face to face time with my friends is because of my grandmother.  She doesn’t live with us, but my dad goes to her house almost every day to check on her to make sure she is well.  My dad did not want to run the risk of us becoming sick because then he could not go check on his mother.  It was hard and difficult to accept and at times, got me really mad. However, I understood the risk and what my dad was trying to do.

It made me happy that I could do some things with the virus, but not everything I used to do which was good enough for me. The year was for the most part, well but not too good. It was difficult, but I managed to make the most of it by doing things I could do like leave the house sometimes to go to a store or rarely seeing friends or family while being safe by wearing a mask and being socially distanced.  

So far, 2021 is going well and I hope that things start to get better as the year goes on. I look forward to being able to do more things this year than I was last year.