The Poetry Shed

A Virtual Classroom
Letter from the Future

Dear Daniel

Dear Daniel

You’re probably freaking out right now about school. You’re also probably planning an end of the year get together with your friends, trying to see everyone before you leave. Either way, you don’t know what you should be freaking out about until it’s too late. You’re probably sorting anxiously through all the new textbooks that just came in the mail. You might carefully organize the new planner you’ll use for a week before you lose it in your dorm somewhere. Maybe you’re staring out of the window, daydreaming about where college will or won’t take you. You’re probably sipping on your one and only coffee of the day.

But that’s all going to change. Things were going great at school; you were eating right, and you were practicing good study habits. And then, as you were scrolling through twitter, you saw it for the first time without thinking anything of it: COVID-19. The new alphanumerical word you cannot go a day without seeing or hearing for weeks. Months. It’s spreading fast, but you’re going to think everyone’s overreacting at first. Or that maybe you’re underreacting. You’re going to sit in your swivel chair at home, scrawling math equations all over your quickly decreasing stock of loose-leaf paper. You still don’t know your schedule, and you’ll still have trouble waking up early. But don’t stress it. Everything’s going to be okay. The songs you love will still be there in the morning, your favorite cow mug will still be in the cupboard, and you’ll have plenty of time to do what you missed doing at home.

Signed,

Get Some Sleep