There’s Nothing I Can Do…And I Feel Helpless: COVID-19 Strikes Again

This sucks. My senior year is basically over. And it’s all thanks to COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus. I never imagined that it would end this way. However, in spite of all of this, I feel as though I’m blessed. I was on a cruise a week ago, and the government could have decided to quarantine all of us to our staterooms for who knows how long. I am safe and healthy. That’s all that should matter. But, I can’t help but think about all of the goodbyes and celebrations that have been taken from me because of this. It’s completely and utterly devastating. I’ve always been an optimist, looking and thinking on the bright side of things no matter the situation. I’m not going to pretend that this doesn’t suck. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. All of the friendships that were made during these past four years will continue to blossom and don’t end here. These people aren’t going anywhere. I need to keep reminding myself that TCU doesn’t end when our time here does. Even though we’re not physically on campus, we still have each other, and we’re still connected to one another. As a graduating senior, it’s hard to cope with the fact that my last two months on campus have been cut short. It’s not what any of us wanted. But, I’m still holding out some hope for a postponed graduation, for the hope that the class of 2020 can be together one last time to celebrate all of our accomplishments over the last four years. After receiving the email this morning that online classes have been extended for the rest of the semester, all of the pent up frustrations and sadness came out all at once—I sobbed for fifteen minutes straight while my mom cried with me and held me in her arms. I know that things will get better and that things have a way of working themselves out, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt. My family is safe and healthy and that’s all that matters. We just have to take things one step at a time…day by day. It’s probably not going to get better in a month, but we just have to remain patient and keep praying for the world. It will get better. Things will change. It just takes time. I wish more than anything that we could go back because we never got to say our proper goodbyes. But, maybe we don’t have to. We will always have this amazing place, and we will always have each other. We don’t have to let go, at least not yet.

Pictured below is me with my sweet kitty, Nutmeg. I got her my freshman year of high school, and she’s been my sidekick for the past 8ish years. Since being back home, she hasn’t left my side. It’s things like this that I can’t take for granted. Coronavirus may have screwed everything up, but we still have our families. We still have our friends. We still have our sidekicks.