All of us have been affected by Covid-19 in our own ways. Some people have just been stuck in their house, others have been really sick from this virus. For me, it’s just been a lot of sitting around, missing being able to hang out with people outside of my family.

My family is following the social distancing as best as we can. My Mom has been working on sewing masks and donating them and so far, she has donated around 100. At the start of the quarantine, I thought that it was going to be fun and easy to be stuck in my house. I didn’t have to go to school, I didn’t have to wake up at 6 to be ready for school, and most importantly I could play on my computer all day long. I am not to the point where I am going crazy yet due to the fact that when I work I get to interact with people who are not in my family (just the owners of the restaurant). I also have been playing Minecraft with my friends almost every night and I try to “socialize” the best I can by talking with my friends while playing together.

With the way it’s looking right now, I assumed that we would be quarantined for awhile, so I got a better computer to play games on and help my schoolwork load faster. My computer is the only thing getting me through this outbreak. Without it, I might have gone crazy from boredom. It’s really difficult seeing people post on their Snapchat story about how they are hanging out with groups of people and not wanting to go. I don’t understand why they hang out anyways. COVID-19 isn’t a joke, people are losing their lives everyday. My neighbors had a giant party a week ago and my family just stayed home, shaking our heads at them.

From this experience I have learned not to take simple things for granted. In one week I went from hanging out with my friends every day, to not seeing them for almost 2 months now. This quarantine has taught me to appreciate what I have because the next day it could all be gone. Once this quarantine is lifted, I am going to appreciate spending time with people I don’t see more. I am going to try to be more social than I was because I will not want to be in my house another minute after this ends. But for now, I guess I am just stuck sitting inside my house.

So far, I think my quarantine experience is good, but very boring. I don’t know how much longer I can go without losing my mind. Having schoolwork each day is a good way to keep my mind off things. I guess I’m just going to have to figure out new things to do.

—Rhys

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