Collected Item: “Leaving the House After 4 Months of Quarantine”
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Leaving the House After 4 Months of Quarantine
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story
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
Leaving the house in this climate has been an event and a half each and every time it happens. You really begin to take it for granted- all those months in quarantine and not seeing the outside world really does do numbers on your perception of what is real and fake, as odd as it sounds. Everything changes when you’re deprived of something for so long.
I remember the first time I left the house. It was my family and me- we were leaving to go to my Grandma’s house, I think, and this was four to five months into quarantine. Prior to this, I haven’t been past my backyard for the past half a year. I’ve never been a big outdoorsy person, so there was no reason to really leave my house the entire time. So my family drags us all out to go and see my Grandma, who has been doing somewhat meh recently. We get ready, take showers, the whole shebang.
I remember seeing trees again. You’d think that oh, seeing trees is completely normal, it’s something we see on a daily basis. But the difference between seeing them through my bedroom window and in real life was honestly kind of shell shocking. I spent the entire car ride just watching outside the window and absorbing the world back in. It seemed so much greener than before’ I’m not sure if that’s because no one has been outside and that helps the environment, or if it’s just been so long since I saw plants that it almost seemed unreal.
The smell, too, oh my god. I forgot how the outdoors kind of vaguely smells like plants all the time depending on where you are, but the area near my grandma's house smelled exactly like flowering trees. My family were all laughing seeing my reactions because it seemed so odd, but honestly, it genuinely shocked me. You don’t realize how much you take for granted until it’s ripped away from you, after all. They’ve been able to leave the house, but I haven’t, so of course I’m going to be super confused and astounded.
But yes. Was a weird experience. Trees really did look greener back then and the world seemed so new- it’s weird to think about since it’s not something people think about often or re-evaluate. After all, it’s something that’s meant to melt into the background, since people have more to focus on than trees passing by on the highway or the smell they make.
I remember the first time I left the house. It was my family and me- we were leaving to go to my Grandma’s house, I think, and this was four to five months into quarantine. Prior to this, I haven’t been past my backyard for the past half a year. I’ve never been a big outdoorsy person, so there was no reason to really leave my house the entire time. So my family drags us all out to go and see my Grandma, who has been doing somewhat meh recently. We get ready, take showers, the whole shebang.
I remember seeing trees again. You’d think that oh, seeing trees is completely normal, it’s something we see on a daily basis. But the difference between seeing them through my bedroom window and in real life was honestly kind of shell shocking. I spent the entire car ride just watching outside the window and absorbing the world back in. It seemed so much greener than before’ I’m not sure if that’s because no one has been outside and that helps the environment, or if it’s just been so long since I saw plants that it almost seemed unreal.
The smell, too, oh my god. I forgot how the outdoors kind of vaguely smells like plants all the time depending on where you are, but the area near my grandma's house smelled exactly like flowering trees. My family were all laughing seeing my reactions because it seemed so odd, but honestly, it genuinely shocked me. You don’t realize how much you take for granted until it’s ripped away from you, after all. They’ve been able to leave the house, but I haven’t, so of course I’m going to be super confused and astounded.
But yes. Was a weird experience. Trees really did look greener back then and the world seemed so new- it’s weird to think about since it’s not something people think about often or re-evaluate. After all, it’s something that’s meant to melt into the background, since people have more to focus on than trees passing by on the highway or the smell they make.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
California High School, American Studies, San Francisco Bay Area, sensory history, San Ramon Valley Unified School District, quarantine, slice of life
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Lucas Weed
Give this story a date.
2020-10-26