A Letter to My Grandchildren

Dear Future Grandchildren,

When I was around your age, in 2021, we were in the middle of a global pandemic. 

Throughout the pandemic everyone needed to wear surgical masks to prevent the spread of germs. It felt strange at first, but everyone became used to it. Some people complained about wearing them, and others resisted because they thought that they had the right not to wear one. When we were around other people, in addition to wearing masks, we were required to stay 6 ft away. In public spaces, chairs were spaced apart from each other, and in some buildings, they had stickers on the floor that were 6ft apart so people knew where they could safely stand.

In the beginning, everyone was told that they would only have to stay home for two weeks, but it ended up being a couple months. We didn’t go anywhere for a long time and we couldn’t even play with our friends that live down the street. There were companies that delivered groceries to people’s houses, and everything was ordered online. Everything was canceled for a while, but eventually some stores opened and a few activities started again. Restaurants tried to reopen by only seving carry-out, and later including spaced seating.

When everyone was stuck at home, people used Zoom so they could still talk to each other and have meetings. It was extremely useful, but some people became annoyed by it.

Most people who didn’t lose their jobs started working from home. People used Zoom for their meetings and some people even set up offices in their houses. When the pandemic started, one thing that became very popular was streaming services. They let people watch whatever movie they wanted, whenever they wanted. There were streaming services before the pandemic, but people weren't home as much to use them. Once everyone had to stay home, people had more time to watch movies and binge shows.

Some things that we did may seem normal to you now, like quarantining or wearing a mask when you’re sick, but everything was new for us.