A light in the dark

By Erin, Age 11

“You’re not coming to school tomorrow,” Mr. Stemmler told his 4th-grade class at the end of the day. “I’ll probably see you again Monday, but just in case, I want you to all pack up everything in your desks and take it home.” It was March 12, 2020. The Thursday before civilization hid behind the walls of their houses because the fear of getting sick was a common phobia. At the time, everybody was simply excited about the day off, so nobody realized what was really going to happen. Sunday, my mom told me that I wouldn’t be going back to school for 2 weeks. And so it snowballed, and eventually, we transferred online, so we could learn something that year. People were scared. But it did work out well for some of us. My mom, as a teacher, taught my brother and I things we wouldn’t have known otherwise. My dad, who’s a pilot for Delta, was home every day. We had a lot of fun.

Covid was scary, but it brought us closer together. How? Because we are people. And we can always find hope, even in the darkest places.