What a strange two weeks this has been. To quote Sharpay and Ryan Evans from the movie “High School Musical” 

“This is not what I want

This is not what I planned

And I just got to say

I do not understand

Something is really

Something’s not right

Really wrong

And we gotta get things

Back where they belong”

To say that spending the last few weeks under a state-mandated quarantine for an unspecified amount of time due to a world-wide pandemic was not how I planned to end my senior year is an understatement. It sounds like something straight out of a hollywood movie.

So, how has my family been spending the quarantine? Well, our family of five is each handling it a little differently from one another. My Dad works from home in his office in the basement. My Mom is the one who does the grocery shopping and goes out for things we need. My oldest sister has been on Spring Break for two weeks and starts her college e-learning on Monday. My younger sister and I have been actually pretty busy with our own e-learning. My dog is getting way more walks than usual, but is glad to have everyone home with her. My cat is annoyed to have everyone home with him, and my kitten is just happy to cuddle while I do my e-learning.  We are all dealing with it in different ways. We have been binge-watching shows on Netflix and Disney +. We have also tried to order from local restaurants, do some crafts, and puzzles. We have cooked and baked new things. Some of being home together has been great. The hard part for all of us is finding a private place to just get away from each other now and again.

While I understand the need to avoid large gatherings of people, and to maintain a safe distance from people not in your immediate family, it is still a stressful thing to be told to stay at home unless you need to get groceries, gas, or get medicine. Oh, I forgot, you can also go outside as long as you stay at least six feet away from strangers.

As a senior, not only are we worried about getting into a college we would like to attend, finishing our classes with decent grades, and doing well on final AP tests in order to get college credit, now we also need to worry about all of the traditional senior opportunities that we in all likelihood may not get to experience; Senior awards breakfast, Air Band, Senior Celebration, Prom, Graduation. Graduating is already kind of a sad experience because we know we will be saying “goodbye” to friends and relationships that will really never be the same. Sure, some of us might attend the same college, but we will be making new friends, and growing in ways that might change our friendships when we come back together on breaks from college.

No matter how much this has changed people’s lives, it really is for the best for society as a whole to maintain social distancing and try to flatten the curve. Hopefully, if we follow the recommendations to stay at home, we will emerge sooner rather than later and our lives will go back to normal.