By late afternoon on March 12, 2020, HISD announced that the district would be closing for a quite long period of time due to the rapid spread of Coronavirus. This was the beginning of a downfall. Spring Break was just starting and kids and families were asked to stay put. My Mother was still working and my younger Brother was still at daycare. That left me at home with nothing much to do, so I packed a bag and headed up to my Grandmas House, which was for the best.

One week in quarantine and I’m already growing bored. I’ve watched many shows and am running out of entertainment.  I learn that the Simpsons (My aunt, uncle, and cousins) have cancelled their trip to Arizona and have stopped going to Sunday church to avoid catching and spreading the disease. Due to Corona Mr.Simpson’s business has been flooded with clientele, and he didn’t want to get behind work if state borders started closing. I try to keep up with news daily and learn more and more about what is happening. The Crocketts (my other Relatives) cancel their trip to go camping when they discover that one of their camping buddies got the virus. For me this was a realization that I needed to keep my distance from others because anyone could get this.

By week two my Mother starts working from home, stores shelves are being swept by customers eager to stock up on goods, and my brother is pulled out of daycare. At this point of quarantine cases are starting to rise even more quickly and it sort of frightened my mother. Our family does not know how to cook, and because of that we usually eat out, with corona shutting down businesses, my mother has learned how to cook some meals, but the selection is quite limited. My Mother also finds it difficult to work at home sometimes. She isn’t used to working at home on a small surface pro and the way things are organized are very different. Another challenge she faces is keeping my little brother entertained. He’s four years old, hyper, and can’t sit still. He’s used to being at daycare, learning and playing with his friends and now he gets to play by himself. My mother would take him to the park at lunch but now parks are closed and it is a challenge with no one to help.

By week three online school for HISD officially starts and I’m still up at my grandma’s in quarantine. We figured it would be better for me to be in a more rural area. Life has drastically changed for me, I miss my friends, and socializing with people, but it’s not that bad for me. First off, time has really shifted for me. I wake up later than I usually would and go to bed at a later time. I’m able to eat nicely prepared meals at home and I don’t have to worry about gobbling my food down so I can get back to school work. I’ve even picked up  some cooking skills. Online school hasn’t been too hard, besides figuring out a schedule and knowing what teachers need from their students. I haven’t really been out of the house except when I take walks around the neighborhood by myself.

Now we’re in week four and I’m still sticking to the same schedule. When we need Groceries, I’m not allowed to go, and we try to go as minimal as possible, which is about once every two weeks. My Uncle who lives in New York says that “the streets are pretty much empty and people are staying home”. Some of my other relatives who live in Florida also said “there’s no one out on the streets, it’s just quiet”.

That being said, it looks like most people are staying safe and staying home, so you should too. There have been many changes in the past few weeks, but it’s not worth going out and getting a virus and putting others in danger. If we face it now things will get better, if we don’t things could get a lot worse and we could be in isolation much longer than we already are, so stay home!