2020

A Memoir about how COVID-19 Impacted My Life

By: XXXXX XXXXXX

 Chapter 1

Unknown Territory

My life was just right. I was 11 years old in 6th grade. My mom was our long term substitute for

science and I had my first boyfriend. I was in the middle of my winter volleyball tournament season, and

so far, we were doing pretty good. I was coach’s main setter, and a really good server for who we had on

the team. I enjoyed going to school. I never had any homework and I always got things turned in on time.

We didn’t have to wear a mask, and we didn’t have to social distance. I could go to the store last minute

for an emergency and didn’t  halfway to the doors of Walmart, have to run back to the car and grab a

mask. I was enjoying my life.

It was the day before spring break. Everybody was excited for our mini vacation. I was helping

Bryce and Mom move the science tables back to their original positions when Ms. Roda came in. That’s

when I found out we were going to take an extra two weeks off of school. I was fine with that, everybody

was, after the three week break we would come back to school like normal. It would be fun and a little

good for me to have a short break. We would continue like normal in our everyday lives, just our school

lives would stop for a little bit.  Then I found out that everything During those three weeks was cancelled.

No more last volleyball tournament until next season, no more open gyms, no more anything, until that

three weeks was up. I was devastated.By the end of the day, I was no longer excited for spring break, I

was dreading it.

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I was sitting on my bed when mom came into my room. We were two weeks into the three week

quarantine and another week had already been added on. I was ready to go back to normal. She came over

and sat on my bed.“There,” she stopped, her face dropped. “The governor added another week to the

quarantine. We have two more weeks to go.” Seriously, I thought really another week?! Great. I couldn’t
help but be mad. It was almost the end and yet another week had been added on. How much longer will

this go on?,  I wondered. Fine Only two more, I agreed in my head, but man was I wrong. This was only

the beginning. There would be a whole lot of new adjustments. I had just stepped into unknown territory,

and all I had was a mask.

 Chapter 2

Masks

Its’ name was COVID-19. It’s name was made up of four parts. COVID came from 3 things. The

“CO” in Covid stands for Corona, the “VI” for Virus, and the “D” for Disease. The 19 n COVID-19

stands for the year that they found it, 2019. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that can spread from person

to person. It was a new disease that had never been seen by humans before. There are many different

theories on how COVID started. Some people think that it was transmitted from a bat that someone

touched or ate. Some people think that it was created in a chinese lab, and released as a bioweapon.

Despite these theories, the CDC stated that “ Using this information, epidemiologists determined that the

virus possibly came from an animal sold at a market.” 

Because of COVID-19, the world changed. In most places, rules require that you wear a mask in

public buildings unless you have difficulties breathing, are under 2 years of age, or cannot remove the

mask without assistance, otherwise you are required to have one on before you can enter a building in

some areas. Social distancing of six feet or more is highly suggested by health officials to be unexposed.

In order to be exposed or in close contact with someone, you have to be within six feet of someone for

fifteen minutes without a mask. If you come in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, the CDC

you should quarantine for 14 days or two weeks until you are sure that you do not have any symptoms.

You can see the effects of COVID-19 in the world’s everyday life. When people go to the grocery

store to get something, they have to wear a mask. When kids get on the school bus, and are at school, they

have to wear a mask. When people are going to a football game, or a volleyball game, or a professional

game, they have to wear a mask and or not go. Some professional teams aren’t even allowed to have

people watch in the stadiums. 

 Chapter 3

Starting Back Up

On August 31, 2020, we were allowed to go back to school. I was so excited. Finally after  5 ½ 

months, we were going back to school. Volleyball would be continuing into our normal season, but with

some changes. We would have to wear a mask, we would have to social distance on the bench, and only

two viewers per player were allowed. The two viewers per player is what really hit us. We could deal

with the mask and distancing, but we weren’t sure how to deal with the 30 people allowed to the game.

We were used to having like 50 people between the other team and us. This was new and unexpected, and

I didn’t like it. 

Something else that was new was that we also had to wear a mask the whole day at school with

the exception of lunch and breakfast. We couldn’t switch classes, so we were stuck in the freezing cold

history room for 5 out of 7 hours. The only hours that weren’t in the history room were STEM, and gym.

Not only did we have to wear a mask, and couldn’t switch classes, but we had to eat breakfast in our first

hour, and the 8th graders had to eat lunch in the library, and only five people were allowed at a table. We

had to get our food served to us, instead of us being able to grab our pizza, veggies and fruit. The sub bar

was gone. We never had sub sandwiches any more, and we hardly ever had anything good. The fruit was

basically the same everyday. Applesauce, apples, and one other fruit. We had the mashed potato bowl

with popcorn chicken just about once every single week. I was so frustrated that sometimes, I would go

home and sit on my bed squishing my orange stress ball so much that my hand ached afterwards. We also

couldn’t have a big CET where everyone got to mix together and have fun. Now we had to separate by

classes and social distance. No more gaga ball, no more hanging out with friends in the other class, no

more big soccer games.

Every day something new came up whether it was a new rule, or a new activity, or a new thing

we had to do each class. There were so many rules, that it drove me crazy. No CET with the other class.
No switching classes. Always wear your mask the correct way; over your nose and covering your mouth.

The whole world was going crazy, and no one could stop it alone, there were so many new things that

were going on. But this was the new norm, and we had to accept it. We had to welcome the year 2020

into our lives. We had to start back up.