Dear Future Rebecca,

I'm writing to you during a very serious pandemic. Currently, we are under quarantine due to the Covid-19 outburst. It is very difficult to stay inside homes and not to communicate with many people throughout the day. Even though it's been difficult on all of us, I believe that everything is for a reason and that this quarantine was supposed to teach us something. My time in quarantine has taught me to be very grateful for everything I have and had before quarantine began. I have learned to be grateful for the small things. I have become grateful for things as simple as being able to attend school and being able to buy a loaf of bread from a local grocery store without being in constant fear and awareness of my surroundings. I am sure that, even though time has passed since the pandemic, you have not forgotten these memories. Quarantine has taught me a lot in the past couple months and may I just say that it has been a wild experience. At the same time, however, quarantine needed to occur for our own safety and for the good of those who are immunocompromised and thus, more susceptible to the virus.

Looking ahead, though, I wonder how life is in the future though now. How is everything? Are COVID-19 and the quarantine restrictions completely over? Have the riots affected significant change in our country? Has school reopened? Do we still have to wear masks at some specific stores or when reaching a certain amount of people in close proximity? Is life completely normal again? Have people changed since the pandemic, the protests, and the riots? I am also curious to know if we are more united as a country or if these issues have divided us? Have the last months of 2020 been as terrible as the first 5 months? I hope you, my future self, can answer all these questions with good news.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Popa