Next week’s spring break will (just about) mark the one year anniversary anniversary of this pandemic. After an entire year of masks, social distancing, general restrictions, and limited interactions with other people, I’m more than ready for this whole pandemic to be over. I’m ready for the end of the year, summer, and the high school experience I was expecting a year ago.

I remember being excited when our spring break was first extended, thinking that this was just extra time off from school. I didn’t think that Covid-19 was going to be a huge deal. I just thought that we’d wear masks, social distance and lockdown for a couple of weeks, and then we’d be back to business as usual. The reality of the situation didn’t really sink in until our school return date first got pushed back. Even then, I still didn’t think we’d be in this pandemic a year later.

While at the beginning, I found quarantine incredibly tiresome, masks unpleasant, and social distancing hard to adjust to, after a while it all became much easier. However, I do find it a bit unsettling how normal this is all starting to feel. I hope things will go back to normal soon so I can get used to seeing faces again.

Right now, I’m hopeful this pandemic will be over soon. Hopefully the vaccine is effective, and we can eliminate this virus or at least reduce the spread. I’m not sure how optimistic I can be with the ending of the mask mandate, but as of right now, all I can do is hope for the best.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the next few months. I do hope we’re able to resume our normal lives again, that our next school year will function like it normally would, and that we manage to get the virus under control. Most of all, I hope this pandemic doesn’t live to see anymore birthdays.