The Pandemic Took Away My Senior Year of College — and It’s Kind of Hard to Let that Go.
But here’s to trying to find a silver lining in all the anger and bitterness.
Recently, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the last time I was out with a group of my friends in a setting that could be considered “normal” (no masks, no social distancing, no global pandemic hanging over our heads). It was just over one year ago, when news of the virus in the U.S. was merely starting to spread.
We were out for dinner, and one of my friends mentioned his parents were nervous about his being out because of the recent news. I’ll never forget what happened next. Another friend and I — ensconced in our naive, pre-pandemic idealism — chuckled at him and said, “Their concern is valid man, but life goes on. What are we gonna do — shut everything down?”
Famous last words, I suppose.
When I first went home last March, I didn’t anticipate things to be abnormal for so long. I don’t think anyone did. Somewhat idealistically, I thought it would only be a few short months until we all returned to campus and resumed life as usual. In particular, I remember feeling thankful that I was only a junior at the time. I lamented the case of my senior friends who would lose the last two months…
