This COVID-19 pandemic disaster could not have come at a worse time.

I suppose it could, actually. I know there are some weddings and important events being postponed or canceled due to this, but personally, this could not have been worse timing.

I am currently in the last few months of my senior year at Mississippi State University, and honestly, I am not ready for that to be over. Not only do I not get to go to class, see my peers and teachers, but everything under the moon is canceled.

Sorority functions, such as our yearly crawfish boil and semi-formal are canceled. The whole sorority, actually, is pretty much canceled. My interior design senior exhibit is postponed. Games and other Mississippi State events are canceled.

Graduation has gotten confusing. I suppose I will officially “graduate” in August? Or December?

These are memories I won’t get back, and I’m replacing them by sitting in my apartment, watching TV, or trying to read the supplementary history chapters that have been added to the already existing chapters. This whole thing is a major curveball.

It’s important not to freak out too bad when things like this happen. I’ve read and heard on TV that a lot of people my age become depressed when major events happen (thanks Corona), but I think I am coping with this situation well.

I have made lists and lists to help myself stay on top of my school work. I hang out with my friends and I call my mom (Hey Terri) regularly. I also scroll through Facebook and TikTok a lot, laughing at jokes and videos about the virus to distract myself from the fact the virus is actually very serious.

Now, my mom is trying to get me to come home from Starkville since I “don’t have school,” and while I have agreed to come every now and then, I really want to keep things as close to normal as I possibly can. I love my parents (Walter and Terri Frazier) a lot. Like I said before, I talk to my mom pretty much daily. And while I’d love to go home and hang out, the thought of being there and not getting to see my grandparents (shout out to Phylis and Richard Cowart) for the fear that I will get them sick makes me indescribably sad.

I’ve joked about hanging out with Honey/Phylis and having a 6-foot pole with me to keep “social distance” but I honestly don’t want to even risk it, you know?

And even though date nights (date nights in Starkville = dinner and a movie) and everywhere else you possibly could want to go are closed, there is a silver lining to this situation: spending extra time with friends and family, catching up on sleep, observing people Black-Friday-style-fighting for toilet paper, an excuse to not go to something (all the introverts are thankful), and last but not least, no school.

 

Tess Frazier is a graduate of Warren Central High School and an interior design major at Mississippi State University. She is also the daughter of Post staff writer Terri Cowart Frazier.