When I Figured Out That Life Might Not Be Normal Soon

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Before COVID I didn't really like my life. That was mostly due to lack of sleep and the fact that I had been spending way too much time analyzing the social hierarchy of my seventh grade class. I felt alone at that point in February. Now I laugh at that feeling, because I didn't know the true meaning of alone. In early February I had started practicing for the track season and I was acing all of my classes. The closure of everything and the cancellation of sports was made worse by the fact that my high jump coach had told me that could potentially jump 5' 5" this year (that easily qualifies you to go to state championships in high school). Right before Kobe Bryant's death I first heard the word coronavirus. I dismissed it knowing that I never knew anything about current events and that it would pass. The week after the basketball legend died in a helicopter crash, I heard that unfamiliar word again. This time I asked what it was, and nobody could tell me much. All I got out of my friends was that it was a flu-like virus that was tearing through China and soon after that, Italy. My first inkling that this virus was going to be a big deal was when my best friend's mom went to 3 different stores to get 20 bottles of hand sanitizer. Of course it was a joke at that point, but after that the 'jokes' came fast and furious. First, panic over a group of students that went on an art history trip to Italy. Next, one of my classmate's parodies to the song "Break My Stride" based on the coronavirus (he sang it during English class and our teacher seem rather unnerved by it). After that, the first documented cases in the US and the beginning of the toilet paper shortages. Then, a joke about the coronavirus solving the problem of overpopulation in Asia. All of this leading up to a phone call in which my family was informed by a doctor that our school would be closed down within the next two weeks.

December 11, 2020

Eleanor Borchard

Eleanor Borchard

Oaks Christian Middle School

text story

English Humor

English Education--K12

English Sports

English News coverage

Italy

track

seventh grade

Kobe Bryant

closure

school

parody

#oakschristian

English Humor

English Lost Seasons

English K-12

12/11/2020

02/26/2021