My Pandemic Experience 

By Denim

I remember hearing about Covid before it was a pandemic, and like most people, I shrugged it off and continued to live. Even when confronted at school and told to shelter in place for two weeks, I was still in denial. I do remember when it hit me, and the realization was like a pile of bricks. I remember being confused and scared, not knowing what news sources to trust and what the true facts about the virus were. I wasn’t able to hang out with my friends or even go to my grandparent’s house. I was overwhelmed and in disarray.

 In the beginning, the first month or so was rough. A nation in a genuine conflict. When confronted with the fact that I could be spreading the virus and not even knowing I was sick was very disorienting. It made it harder to go out and have some kind of normality. Some months later when everyone’s heads had been submerged into the pandemic, I had gotten used to getting up every day, turning on my computer, and sitting at my desk. Eating the same food and doing the same thing almost every day. Days and weeks began to blend and my days normally consisted of dull boring days. I still called my friends and played video games but for me, that only lasts so long.  

One thing is for certain though is that at that point in time I wasn’t able to enter my grandparent’s home. When I wasn't able to go into their house it felt like something had been stolen from me. I at least got to see them on their porch, waving back at me with a smile. That was tough mainly because before the pandemic I was always at their house. Whether I skated over there or they would pick me up after school, I could only see and talk to them from a distance. Some of the times I really just wanted to go inside their house, sit on the couch and just talk but I knew that wouldn’t fly. I remember feeling sad, I'd look up at them and talk and at that moment I just wanted to run like the wind and hug both of them. I remember right before the pandemic I was skating vigorously, and what I mean by that is I was constantly skating every day with friends, every morning and every afternoon I found time to skate. When the pandemic first started I couldn't skate. I couldn't even go to the store. That was hard for me, just stopping something so suddenly, not being able to continue skating. I had fallen and hurt myself monthly and then to stop something I really enjoyed doing really hurt me and was something I had to adapt to. I needed an alternative, so a big thing that kept me going and that was shooting.

Well, shooting at A firing range is awesome and I wouldn’t turn it down, but one summer day during the pandemic my father had come to my brother and I asked if we would go shooting with him. We were puzzled considering that we had been locked in our house held prisoner by Covid. We exchanged glances and I told my father, “the ranges are all closed” My father looked down at me and smiled, and told us to pack our rifles and get in the car, confused yet excited my brother and I did just that. During the ride my father had explained to us where we were going, we were not driving to the middle of nowhere to shoot but rather driving to his employer's land. He said we could distance ourselves from the employer and safely shoot. Pulling up to his property I was just amazed by nature and the vast patches of land. We pulled up to his employer’s doorstep and chatted. My brother and I introduced ourselves and my father went to do some maintenance on his property. His employer was very nice but made sure we could safely handle firearms, he smiled at us and told us to have fun. My brother and I slung our rifles on our backs and grabbed some targets and began to explore the property. I remember this being one of the first times I had been out of my house, I remember listening to the grass whisper in the wind as we walked and heard the crunchy sound of our footsteps as we walked along with the grass clearing. It felt for a moment that my problems were gone. My brother and I stood silently enjoying our surroundings. I placed some targets up and we began to shoot water jugs, bottles, cans, or any junk we could find on his land. At that moment I remember feeling a weight being lifted off of me and a realization that maybe there is a light shining in this darkness. 

After summer break I had to get used to distance learning again, and It was uncomfortable and annoying considering many people believed that the virus would be almost gone. There was one silver lining though, through that summer my brother and I had formed a good relationship with my father's employer and had frequently visited him and went shooting on his property. Going into 11th grade during a pandemic wasn't easy But I have managed and have been able to hold a 4.0 this far and I do not intend to lose it. Once I was reminded of what was required for distance learning I focused my priorities and put school first in order to succeed. As the months slowly passed by one of my dogs did too. Days crept by like a turtle moving at a dull and slow pace. It made me reflect, it made me think about my time with my animals and how our constant care being at home prolongs their lives. In the present day, I have two other 14-year-old labs, they are the same age as my brother. One of them is in diapers and the other has lung cancer, we constantly monitor them, change diapers, give medicine, etc. Every day with them is a present. Through this pandemic my relationship with my animals has grown enormously, spending time in the house with them all day every day. It felt good to take care of my animals. I've spent my entire life up to this point with these animals and now being able to help them live out their days under constant care is just what they need. My brother and I can walk them and get them exercise so they can continue to walk. I've learned how to give them injections and identify when one of them is having a seizure and can give them proper help.

Some months ago both of my grandparents got vaccinated and so have many others. My mom, dad, and even myself just days ago. Entering their house and hugging them was necessary, I felt good being able to hang out with them even if it was just for a short period of time. My grandfather even had me clean his handgun, it was a lot of work considering it hadn't been shot or cleaned in 60 years. I dissasbeled it and cleaned it and gave it back to him. I remembered the smile he had on his face. Around the time when my grandparents both got their second dose of the vaccine I started skating again and it felt good, I was rusty and winded. The first session was with my brother but I was happy. I keep going every couple of days a week to get fluent again. I was doing ollies, pop shuvits, and kickflips. Although at first, it took me a couple of tries to kickflip again. Months later I was fluently kickflipping and started to land more heelflips and varial flips. I felt good to be decent again and it felt good to shed my skin and skate again. For the first couple of months, I was just skating with my brother, I reached out to my friend and asked him if he wanted to socially distance skate. With his parents being vaccinated and mine as well we decided to go for it. That was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that we met up in person and genuinely hung out. The only other time we have seen each other in person would be like on a birthday. We did a drive by thing but this was the first real skate session. It was refreshing to have a sense of normality back in life again. I compared that experience to the many times when I went shooting, thinking about a normal experience like shooting a firearm in nature or skating with friends can be a new and exciting thing to do considering that things haven't been normal. A sense of normality can be exhilarating as each day we move closer and closer to that day when things can be the way they were. 

All in all, this could have been worse, and what I mean by that is that out of any time I could have been born our generation is moving forward alongside covid. I could have been born centuries ago when the bubonic plague was taking place or when racial injustices were at their peak. I could have been born into not one but 2 world wars. I could have been a farm boy sentenced to fight in the trenches only to die a boy. I could have been born into a Jewish family under the Nazis in Germany. I could have been killed by the blade of Genghis khan. Essentially what I am saying is things could be a lot worse. We should be thankful for our nation and thankful for technology that allows us to fight threats. This pandemic has hit hard and though it's not another world war it is something we all have to endure and fight together. So by reading this I hope you get some sort of grasp on my pandemic experience and I hope you enjoyed reading. Thank you. -Denim