Dear Future Charlotte Peverley,
The year is 2020. I’m sure you remember it, considering it was a year full of momentous, shocking, and unexpected events. Let's take a look back: Fires spreading rapidly across Australia that burned tens of millions of acres of land, killing wildlife and destroying homes everywhere. Next we have the killing of an Iranian general with a drone strike that almost sent the US into WWIII. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal life behind them. The impeachment trial of US president Donald Trump. Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi are killed alongside others in a freak helicopter crash. The US presidential election (unknown results) The murder hornets coming the US. And of course we can’t forget Coronavirus.
COVID-19 started in Wuhan, China by someone eating a bat JK It was most likely created in a lab. It spread around China and into other surrounding areas. At this time I had no concern and would even joke about it coming into the US and into Maryland. But I wasn’t long until cases popped up everywhere and began to be a real threat. Nothing to joke about now. It was all that was talked about in school the last week or so before we left for who knows how long. Teachers started to prepare for the what ifs and took precautionary safety measures. Until March, Friday the 13th, not to be superstitious but kinda, we left school for what was supposed to be 2 weeks. We took everything home, empty lockers were all that was left. Online school began. We didn’t know how long we would be home for. Hand sanitizer and toilet paper were not to be found anywhere. The news was constantly on; hearing about new cases in the US and predictions about the future. Waiting for Governor Hogan to come on and tell us when we could go back to normal, but it didn’t happen. The date to go back to school kept getting pushed back until the rest of the year was cancelled for good. Maryland went into lockdown, nothing but the essentials open and face masks for all.
NO seeing friends or family. I went from seeing my grandparents every week for dinner to not at all. All I wanted was a hug but that was not allowed. I got outside more often, for hikes and adventures in the woods. I worked out more too which was a good thing. Everyone was at home and I began to get annoyed with everyone. Fighting with my sister and my mom always telling me what to do. The feeling of being cramped inside with the same people everyday for months is definitely not the best. I found creative ways to stay busy and entertained while being at home. The amount of school work also helped keep me distracted. Waking up early most days and signing into school and going class by class to see what work I had for the day. Had a couple class microsoft teams meetings which were always awkward and boring. Teachers definitely didn’t hold back on giving work. I maintained pretty good grades during this time. I learned how to communicate with teachers better and I got used to being online. But by the end of the year I was kinda tired of it and just wanted to be done. I’m currently just 2 days away from the end of the year. Finally! Life has been boring and strange. I felt like I was repeating the same day over and over again. Dejavoo but in a bad way. I didn’t go into public for like 2 months which was strange and the grocery stores were weird. You could only go one way down the aisles and there was someone at the door to make sure there weren’t too many people in the store at a time. Not being able to tell people’s expressions under the mask always made me uneasy for some reason. The world was disconnected for the first time in forever it seemed like. Everyone turned to social media to communicate and relied on it more than ever.
I think this summer will also be strange. Things have started to open back up now but not all the way and people are still going to be paranoid. There is also the threat of Corona coming back even worse in the fall. I hope summer will still be good, because I have been looking forward to it forever. They have also talked about not starting school on time next year which would really suck.
Currently protests are breaking out all over the country and world for the Black Lives Matter Movement. This started with murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. Burning down buildings and looting stores, tear gas and rubber bullets, a fight for rights. Every state in the US has had a protest, not all were violent. The outcome of this situation is still unknown.
Also I saw my first rocket launch ever. NASA and SpaceX sent people up to the International Space Station which was amazing. I watched footage of the space walk, too, and was intrigued by it all.
Honestly nothing surprises me anymore and I am just waiting for more to come, I mean we are only half way through the year and all this has already happened.
- K Bye
