March 12th, 2020.  The last day with no masks and no idea of what was about to come next.  For me, that included the cycle of depression and anxiety quarantine was about to cause.  March 12th was a Thursday I believe.  I was wearing my black, North Face full zipper hoodie and my checkered slip-on vans with my light wash ripped skinny jeans (little did I know that my favorite skinny jeans would be out of fashion the next time I stepped foot into this building). Friday (March 13th) was planned by Dekalb county to be a teacher workday so my class celebrated Mrs. Vanpelt’s baby shower during 7th period on that Thursday before.  This baby shower included the usual; gender-neutral everything (since we didn’t know the gender yet).  There were cupcakes with pink and blue frosting mixed making this interesting tie-dye effect and chick-fil-a nuggets and sandwiches. There was music playing from Taylor swift to Lil baby and of course- us being sophomores in high school needed to play musical chairs.  At least our last day before the beginning of my literal hell was enjoyable.

December 2019 was the beginning of the covid jokes.  Every time someone in class would cough everyone would give the standard response of “ouuuu someone has Covid.” But of course, now it’s not a joke anymore it’s serious.  “Someone in China ate a bat,” was the main ‘fact’ and famous google search at the time. Throughout the beginning of 2020, there was a mixture of nervousness and not caring, from all those around me.  I was worried about the gyms closing and me not being able to make money at my job if this whole covid thing were to become serious.  The events occurring after my teacher’s baby shower were interesting.  “Two weeks off and virtual learning,” was honestly the best thing I was told from Dekalb county.  My Sophomore year was rough. School was getting hard and I love chemistry, don’t get me wrong but Mrs. Ross (my chemistry teacher that year) was not it at all.  It felt like a break that I knew I needed.  If only I knew what was to come ahead I don’t think I would be as happy as I was back then.