The year of 2020 has been undoubtedly a crazy way to end my senior year. Missing out on things like BPA states, Model UN, spring sports and normal senior pranks at the end of the year was disappointing; however, I believe everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for us. My growing faith has helped me come to terms on the results of the last semester of the school year because I know he is in control, and things will start to look up. This is just a small instance in my life, unforgettable but small. I know God has a plan for my future and I’m excited to get started!
My senior year ended with not being able to cheer on my teammates at swim states, compete at DECA Internationals in Nashville, TN, not being able to give my witness talk on the Y2Y retreat, and more. I also had my journalism and student leadership class online which was interesting.
Although being stuck at home in quarantine wasn’t the ideal ending to my senior year, there were some positive aspects of it. For one, the stress of all the activities I’m involved in was alleviated and I was able to take a deep breath and catch up on my life and relax, which is rare. Although that deep breath may have lasted three months, it was nice. I started riding my bike again which I hadn’t since getting a car, and I started giving more attention to my health. I also cleaned out my room twice and started packing for college.
One of my favorite parts of quarantine was watching TV-church in the living room with my family. Every Sunday, we would all sit in the living room and watch mass. We even would stand and kneel when we normally would at church. This routine was a nice reset for the week, as I was lacking that which I normally had from Youth Ministry every week.
One negative of quarantine was that I struggled with my motivation and I ate a lot of junk food, drank pop, and didn’t work out at all. The lack of drive to get out and be active made me appreciate the world out of quarantine ten times more. When I would pray, it would be for the world to hunker down and tough this out.
My saving grace of quarantine was actually the flooding here in Sanford and Midland, MI. My family was fortunate to not have any flooding in our house, but being able to get out of the house and serve others was what I needed in my life. This all happened right around the time our mission trip was supposed to happen as well. All the flooding also just brought everyone together and I was able to see families in the community I hadn’t seen in months. Overall, quarantine wasn’t horrible in retrospect. Although during quarantine I only focused on what I wasn’t able to do, I am grateful for the opportunity I had to slow down and take a breath.
