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My
QuaranTEEN Diary
by Adora Brown
March 13 is a day that will forever go down
Adora Brown is an intern at
Mid-Atlantic Media and a
junior in the Howard County
Public School System.

in infamy.

OK, maybe I am being a bit dramatic. But
the girl who left high school on that strange
Friday thought she was embarking on what
teenagers had dubbed “coronacation.”
The previous day, state officials announced
their decision to close schools because of the
pandemic, so I said a premature good-bye to
my classmates and teachers.

The first week of quarantine was fine. I filled
my days with mindless marathons of Netflix
sitcoms. I convinced myself that I was not
being lazy, I was just taking a well-deserved
break. Of course, that was when I thought we
would only be out of school for two weeks.

By the second week, I could barely get
out of bed. Isolation left me with too much
time in my own thoughts. I wanted to go
to school, skip lunch with my friends, have
movie nights filled with high-calorie snacks
and drive down the highway without a care
in the world.

My small problems seemed gigantic.

It was not until I crawled out of that
slump that I began to take control of my
life. The first step was to analyze the facts:
1) I probably would not see my friends
for a while.

2) Maybe watching Netflix all day was
not the best idea.

3) I needed a better hobby, and fast.

Whereas some people try one hobby at a
time, I decided to do them all at once. It was
an unconventional approach, but these are
unconventional times.

I started with baking. Chocolate chip cook-
ies, macarons and a three-tiered carrot cake!
I tried every recipe I could find on Pinterest
until my parents complained there were too
many desserts in the house.

Then I stumbled upon an old skein of yarn
and knitting needles. Yes, I, a 17-year-old
girl, started knitting a headband—and quite
successfully. My ritual was to turn on Disney’s
“Tangled” and knit a little bit every day.

There also were about 100 family walks
and FaceTime calls to friends. My life hack
for surviving quarantine was staying busy,
and it has worked.

Online school finally started on April
13. I completed more than four hours of
assignments every day, studied for the SAT
and tried not to lose my mind in the pro-
cess. Yes, I missed getting coffee at 3 p.m.

with my friends and studying for midterms
at the library. But there were worse things
in the world than boredom.

The last time I went to the grocery store,
the aisles were barren. I suppose that was
when it hit me, that someone in my family
or I could get sick from a simple Target run.

Everything became a stressor—the news, my
family, even going on a walk. I know that the
choices we all make have an impact, and I
chose to make small sacrifices to the keep
the people I love safe.

Right now I am looking forward to warm
summer afternoons at my friend’s pool,
hosting barbeques in my backyard and
spending a week at the beach in North
Carolina. I can only hope that every day I
spend at home is another day I get to enjoy
summer with friends and family. Maybe
things will never completely go back to
normal, but the thought of truly enjoying
the summer before my senior year drives
me to stay home. Until then, maybe I will
get better at knitting. n
WashingtonFAMILY.com 21