What I Would Be Doing if it weren’t for Quarantine

A few weeks ago on April 18th, I turned 22 years old. Usually, my family would have come over and celebrated my birthday; eating cake, opening gifts, and just enjoying each other’s company. But, with Covid-19 being such a risk, we did not have a party. Some of my family even forgot it was my birthday, not cool. My friends and I would have also done something; last year, one of my long-time friends had all of my closest friends over for my 21st. Even though everyone was home this year due to the school’s closing, I didn’t even get to see any of my friends on my birthday.

For my graduation present from my parents, my dad was paying for my girlfriend and I to go to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica for a week from May 23rd to May 31st. But yet again, we had to cancel this due to the coronavirus with it just not being safe to travel, especially fly. Another reason for us not being able to go was because my girlfriend had to get her passport and it was delayed due to the pandemic and would not have been here on time.

I have worked at Dick’s Sporting Goods for the last 5 years in the team sports section which includes baseball, basketball, football, and all the other sports. The company closed all stores nationwide at the end of March, but still paid part-time employees for the shifts they were scheduled for through April 11th; so I was getting paid to lay around and play video games and work on schoolwork, which was nice. But, they ended up furloughing all part-time employees after April 11th. They said that once we re-open, we are more than welcome to come back to work if we choose to. But, I will most likely not go back because I will be looking for a job that is within my major, professional writing.

My plan was to have interviewed for different jobs before I graduate so once I graduate I have a full-time job lined up and can jump right into the “working world,” but with this pandemic going on I have put this on hold as it is harder to find a job now than it usually is. My girlfriend and I were going to get an apartment together after I graduated and had a full-time job, as she has been working full-time for the past few months. But, now she is moving in on May 12th and I am not going to be moving in until later in the summer, hopefully, once I have a job.

I know a lot of people are in my shoes and are missing out on a lot of plans they had made prior to this worldwide pandemic. But, it will eventually pass and our lives will go back to normal. We have to be smart about our everyday lives and keep on social distancing and quarantining ourselves in order for this virus to go away and for things to go back to the way they used to be. Sometimes in life, you have to put things on hold, and I think this virus is teaching us all that great lesson.