Quarantine List:
- Waking up to the sound of my father yelling into the phone, not because he’s angry but
because he has terrible hearing. - Going back to sleep and waking up three hours later because my sleep schedule has
fallen apart. - Getting up and eating whatever’s left in the pantry, since we’ve all grown fearful of the
grocery store. - Listening to my mother talk on the phone with my aunt, the New York nurse, who’s in an
apparent warzone. - Trying to get work done, but realizing that it’s impossible to focus with the news on a
constant loop in the background. - Waiting by the phone to hear if relatives have made it out of the hospitals uninfected, or
if another one has gone off to another hospital. - Taking my dog on “walks” to the mailbox and feverishly washing my hands after touching
the mail. - Talking to my boyfriend on the phone, also from New York, trying to hide the panic in my
voice. - Trying to hide the sadness I feel knowing I realistically won’t be able to see him for
another month. - Eating, working out, showering, and attempting to fall asleep before 5 a.m. and failing
because the room is filled with the quietness of solitude, leading back to number 2.
If Quarantine didn’t exist list: - Waking up to my regularly scheduled alarm to go to my regularly scheduled class.
- Showering at a scheduled time because I have somewhere to be.
- Getting ready and trying to make myself look presentable enough to be seen by the
surrounding public. - Eating a regular breakfast, the ingredients of which are fresh because they were
purchased the day before from a grocery store filled with strangers I could make
pleasant conversation with. - Going to class, sitting less than a foot away from the student next to me, and listening to
my professor lecture, only a foot away from me. - Leaving class and driving with the windows down because it’s starting to feel warm
again. - Going to my boyfriend’s house in the middle of the day when the sun is still shining and
we are standing zero feet apart. - Watching him play xbox and bothering him every once in a while for a kiss.
- Talking on the phone with my mother because I haven’t seen her in a while and won’t
see her until summer. - Going to sleep late at night because I was with friends and the room was filled with
laughter.