A letter from April 14th, 2020

Dear FutureMe, I never thought I’d see a pandemic. I’m living in the middle of COVID-19. The world is at a standstill. Classes are all online, we don’t go out in public unless it’s necessary or you’re an essential worker. I’m home a lot. I hesitate to stand close to people. People wear masks and gloves. There’s plastic barriers between us and the cashiers and other people. Delivery food drivers don’t hand food to you, it’s left on the porch. People are dying. It’s hard to imagine that this would ever be my life. I’m sending this forward a year from now. I hope in a way life has gone back to normal. Did we go back to college in August? Did you study abroad? If my plans go accordingly, we should be abroad right now. Was that even possible? Has a cure been found? Are we still alive? Did anyone we know die? How many lives did it ravage? Did it come back in the fall? They say that with the warmer weather, it’ll die... but it could come back in the fall. I miss when life was simple. I took advantage of it. I miss going to restaurants, I miss walking to class. I miss being with my friends. I miss college. I miss not wondering if there’s a microscopic disease in my lungs. Sometimes I take a deep breath, thankful I can do so with no hindrance. I wonder if it might be gone one day. When all of this is over, please remember what life was like during quarantine. Remember yesterday, remember when life was simple. Hopefully, when you receive this, life is okay. We are okay.