Val Navarro

The day before the storm

My last photo before Friday the 13th of March, the day they told us that we were not going back to school, my friend group decided to go to Sauble Beach to celebrate before exams. We had planned that trip a while ago and the pandemic seemed like an impossible thing. I remember that my dad didn't want me to go at the beginning but I convinced him that we were going to be safe. The weeks before this trip, Covid-19 was a subject of conversation but still, it seemed like something that would take a couple of weeks to be solved. We knew it started in China, that it was spent in Europe and that we had some cases in Canada but never imagined that it was going to pause everybody's life in the world. That weekend I had a blast, smiled, and laughed all day. It was the moment we had been waiting for the whole year. The days were so long on the beach, we talked about remembering the best moments of the last two years. That is the period of time that it took our high school program. We also joked about how hard we’re going to take the exams when we come back after the spring break. Even though, thanks to my dad’s comments a couple of weeks before made me a little sad, I had the feeling that something bad was coming, like when your knees start hurting when the storm is coming. The week we came back it was like if the zombie apocalypse started, everybody was scared. The classes were interrupted with conversations about the virus, people were no longer smiling and slowly less and fewer people came to school. By Wednesday, the government told us that they were going to start a curfew after the spring break. I felt that we were not going back so the last day I grabbed all the things from my locker, didn't know that it was going to be my last day of school. Every time I feel cooped up at home I just remember how wonderful those three days were with my best friends, with no worries, silly us that didn't know that everything was going to change. Since that moment I have experienced a lot of emotions like a roller coaster but I always try to remember that there is always hope, that this is going to end and that everything is going to be worth it when I see my friends and family again. When I will be able to hug them and kiss them and tell them how stupid I was for not telling them how much I loved them face to face. I had a lot of sad moments, missing my family as I am an international student in Canada, I haven't been with my family for two years and know it has been very tough as Mexico is not taking the required measurements to maintain everybody safe, but it has helped me be able to talk to them, be able to see my friend and my family thanks to technology. I will give everything to go back to those 3 days in the beach, on our trip, leaving me with wonderful memories and something to hold on to.