May 11, 2020

As I am writing this, I am realizing that we have been out of school for exactly two months now. On the one hand, it feels like a few weeks, but on the other hand, it feels like years. In response to the prompt for today, I know that everyone is in a different situation right now, especially when it comes where they are living. Some people are out in the countryside with acres of land, while others are in an apartment building in a big city with no chance to get even a little fresh air. For me, I am right in the middle. I don’t live in an apartment in a big city, but I also don’t have acres and acres of land in the countryside. I live in a fairly big neighborhood, in a decent-sized house, with a decent-sized backyard, and plenty of opportunities to get fresh air. In that sense, I consider myself to be lucky, and I am very grateful for that. Throughout the day, I am surrounded by the noise of construction across the street, cars driving on the road next to my house, my little brother playing video games, and my dogs playing downstairs. The only site that consistently changes is the progression of the houses that are being built across the street. One of them is being worked on a lot, and it is getting closer to being done everyday. The other one hasn’t really changed for a while, and it kind of reminds me of us right now. We are all, in a way, standing still, without progression, for what seems like years. I think this virus is teaching us many things, one of which is that we are lucky to live in an area where we have access to fresh air, trails to walk, run, or bike on, and many hills and mountains that we can travel to the top of. For a long time, I think I took advantage of all of these things, but now, I will always be grateful for them.