A Note to the Reader

What follows is a chronicle of my experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The fact that you have access to this collection of entries could mean that I survived. Or, rather, perhaps I am survived by this collection. It remains unseen and impossible to discern from this point, as the arrow of time moves in a single direction. The threat is real. COVID-19 is spreading through the global community at breakneck speeds. As social distancing gives way to quarantine, businesses close their doors uncertain of when, or if, they will ever open again. Graduations are indefinitely postponed, if not canceled altogether, while the college town that would have hosted them are under curfew. Many people (the ones who listen) are staying home by choice. The rest of them are in the air, on trains, and in cars, either determined to see the world or desperate to reach their loved ones one last time before the end. It's interesting to imagine where this could all be leading us. But my job is not to predict, but to recall. No matter the events that unfold in this narrative, I thank you for taking the time to read my work. Our story is all we leave behind, living on in the collective consciousness of those we have affected, and the works we have accomplished. And yet, even they do not last forever. In the grand scheme of things, we are ephemeral in nature, perhaps by design, existing for but a fraction of a blink in the eyes of some great, unknowable mechanism. And yet, what we do, what we see, how we feel, represent all any of us will ever know. And so we must chronicle, journal, account for the otherwise untold legacies of a species who is at once its own audience and entertainer. This is my goal. Before us is an uncertain future. Human nature would dictate that we must fear it. Ever the rebels, we choose to march forward. I hope this journal provides a peek into the mind of someone who lived through it. Enjoy.