By ASVK, 11 yrs old

Pic source: Time Lost - Flickr

When I was 9 years old, the world shut down. I was about to turn ten and I was in the middle of planning a great big birthday because I was going to become a double digit. But, when I turned ten there were only 4 people at my party: my mom, my dad, my brother, and also my dog. Going to the present, just a few months ago I turned 11. That’s two years I spent in my house. I went into covid as a 4th grader and came out as a 6th. I changed a lot and I felt like I had aged 50 years.

A lot of people only look at the bad parts of covid, but there are some reasons why life could have changed for the better. First I got a dog. My dad didn’t want to have a dog, but during covid we were lonely and needed an addition to the household. We needed a dog, so we got one named Zienna. ( The name was chosen at birth.) Another example is when we got videogames. My parents decided that we would not play video games long before we were born, but one of my dad’s coworkers gave my dad a PS4. It would be a waste to throw it out, so yeah, we were able to keep it. Life would be very different without covid.

There were a few things that were cool during covid. I remember a time where the sky turned orange. I live in Berkeley. I was going to do online school and when I woke up and looked outside, surrounding me was an orange layer of stuff. People said it was because of the fires and that smoke was getting trapped and all of that stuff. Surprisingly the orange skies stayed for a few days. There was another time where college students made the campus in minecraft and had a virtual graduation.

Since I am now 11 years old that means I'm starting middle school. I lost a lot of learning in 4th grade because online learning didn’t exist yet, so there are a few things I hope to catch up on. Right now as I write this it is Monday August 9th, in a week I will be going to middle school. We still have to wear masks and my parents are super overprotective because I am not eligible to get vaccinated yet.

Tons of people died during 2019 to 2021. Some famous people died from other things like cancer and helicopter accidents. I don’t know how it feels to lose a family member and I’m glad for that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to feel sad for all of the people who lost their lives. For anyone who has covid right now, I hope you get better and live a long, long life.