By: Lily Mueller

When the new year 2020 was beginning, I would see all these social media post about how this year was going to be an amazing year and bring new opportunities. I would see my senior friends post about how excited they were for all their “last firsts.” With everyone so excited for this new year, we never thought a worldwide pandemic would ruin it for us.

Being stuck in quarantine has brought me surreal boredom. I never thought I could miss school, but I do. Not so much the school part but my friends, especially my senior friends. I am devastated that I can’t make my last memories with some of the seniors that I have become so close to this year. I was looking forward to watching my senior friends and my sister graduate. Being as devastated as I am about this school year ending the way it has, I can’t begin to imagine how the seniors feel.

Fear is a good word to describe how I’ve felt during quarantine. According www.who.int?emergancies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019.com, there have been 247,503 deaths from COVID-19 worldwide, and probably even more since the publishing of this article. Many people don’t realize how severe this disease is and are not following the rules put into place to help us. My mom is considered an essential worker, which means that even though COVID-19 is spreading rapidly, she still must work. That is scary because she could somehow get the disease and bring it home any day.

This pandemic brings so much uncertainty for me, wondering if quarantine will ever end and we can go back to our normal lives. I’m scared that one of my loved ones or myself will get the disease. I miss socializing with people other than my family and I wonder when I will get to again. I am also curious whether I well get to have a fun summer with my friends or if COVID-19 will take that from me, too.

However, besides the fact that this disease has brought many deaths, it has also brought out the good in people. I have seen many people from all over start to become big believers of Jesus and praying for people they don’t even know. There are also people showing appreciation to the nurses and doctors who are treating patients with the disease. This crisis will be talked about in years to come and, because of this disease, hopefully future generations will be prepared if something like this happens again.