06/17/2021

Everyone says that this year is the year we’ll talk about on college applications. The year that we’ll always remember, the one we write down into history books and into stories for our grandchildren.

I can’t say that I feel the same.

I don’t remember a lot about what happened in the last year, it felt like everything happened but nothing happened all at once. One moment I was in the weight room talking about the extended spring break, and the next I’m sitting in an empty classroom on my last day of sophomore year.

This last week, I’ve been thinking about how I’m heading into my junior year even though freshman year feels like yesterday. I’ll text my friends about these things; telling them how disconnected I feel from everyone and everything while simultaneously pulling myself away from them.

From the beginning of the school year, instead of getting lost in the school hallways, I got lost within the comfort of the internet. Hoping to find more people that felt the same way as I did, people who were looking for a way to connect back to the world by distancing ourselves from it.

To give myself the benefit of the doubt, at least I made it through this year and I think for now, that’s good enough for me.

–

Sincerely,

Jenny, a 16 year old teenager who doesn’t remember anything about living through a whole pandemic