Well, finishing my senior year in high school during a global pandemic was not really how I envisioned this school year ending. It seems like a topic for a movie, and I feel pretty certain that as soon as social distancing is over, several Hollywood studios will start filming stories taking place during Covid-19. So, I decided to write about what I most look forward to doing as soon as we are no longer required to stay six-feet away from everyone but our immediate family.
Visit and hug my family members that I do not live with. Not seeing my grandparents during this pandemic has been very hard. Although none of my grandparents live in Illinois, they all visit every few months and we have taken several vacations with them. All four of my grandparents had planned to fly to Illinois the weekend directly after the schools shut down. They were coming to watch my final show choir competition as a senior. They all planned to return the weekend before graduation so that they could attend my graduation on May 18th. At this point, I’m uncertain when we will get to see them, but I know as soon as it’s safe, we will visit.
Spend time with my friends before we all leave for college. My closest friends and I are all going to different colleges. It will be really strange not seeing them except for breaks. Because I am attending school in California next fall, I feel like it will be a lot harder for me to get together with my friends except for Christmas break.
Take my graduation trip to Hawaii. My family started a tradition last year when my sister graduated, to take a family trip to wherever the graduate wanted to go. My sister, Taylor, chose Disney World last summer. We hadn’t been for several years and we had special tickets to the Villains after hours event. It was great, and we were able to walk on many rides, eat some great food, and make memories before Taylor left for college in New Jersey. This year, I wanted to return to Maui with my family. We were going to stay in condos at the Grand Wailea for part of the time so we could use their water slides and then finish up at the Four Seasons and get pampered. We were all really excited. Now, I’m not even sure when Hawaii will open for tourism again. I know we will eventually take my graduation trip, I’m just not sure when we will go. It may be months, it may be in a year. It will still be a fun trip, but I’m not sure if it will really feel like a graduation trip.
Shop in person for things for my college dorm. I’m going to admit, I have not been to any stores since the governor issued the stay at home order. I go outside to walk our dog, or jump on our trampoline with my sisters, but I haven’t stepped foot inside any building other than my house. I’m not really a huge shopper, but just knowing that most stores are closed, and the ones that are still open require people to wear masks, makes me really not want to go out.