“Even the longest of days will come to an end.” I have had this aphorism from a fortune cookie taped next to my desk at home for years. Every once in a while, when I am having a murky day or schoolwork is piling up high and stress consumes me, I look at that little fortune cookie fortune and it reminds me that even the darkest of nights becomes a bright, new morning. So, when the coronavirus started to make major waves in New York what feels like a lifetime ago and school was shut down, I looked at that aphorism and, with hope in my heart, thought, “this too shall pass.” Never could I have imagined how my life would change in the two and a half months following that moment.

How could I have known that a demon smaller than what the eye can see would hold the entire planet hostage and drive fear into the hearts of millions? How could I have known that terms like “social distancing” and “quarantine” would become integral parts of my vocabulary over the next ten weeks? How could I have foreseen the impact this virus would have not only on my way of life, but the lives of teenagers like me all around the world? The days we as teenagers dream about our whole lives and see on TV virtually every day stripped from us in a flash by a power we have no control over. Senior prom and high school graduation are moments that you remember as long as you live, and for many seniors, those are the last times they will see most of the kids they grew up with and saw almost every day for the past thirteen years.

For me personally, coronavirus has stolen more than just my senior year. Up until the virus hit, my family and I would take a weekly Sunday trip to Middle Village, Queens, to visit my grandma, my aunt, and my uncle on my mom’s side of the family. As an Italian, my uncle would prepare an antipasto, pasta, sausage, and so much more for us to enjoy. We would sit around the table talking, laughing, and making jokes in good fun at my little brother’s expense. It was a weekly ritual that we all looked forward to, but with this virus, it has been three months since I have seen any of them. With my grandma in her mid-eighties and her mind not a sharp as it used to be, it makes each visit more special, so having these visits taken away is hard for the whole family.

COVID-19 has also stolen my friends from me, many of whom I have known since I was five years old. Before the pandemic, my friends and I would not only see each other every day at school, but we would spend time together on the weekends too. Now, as a result of this faceless enemy, I have gone from seeing them daily to not seeing them in ten weeks. Given that this is the end of our senior year, it is supposed to be our chance to spend as much time together as we possibly can, making memories that will last us a lifetime before we go our separate ways.

With all this time at home under quarantine, it would ideally be a perfect time for live sports to save the day. Unfortunately, the pandemic has taken that away from me as well. As an avid hockey and basketball fan, it has been especially tough these last few months because playoffs for both the NHL and NBA would usually consume my attention from April to June, but with this COVID-19 pandemic, both leagues, along with many others, have suspended operations indefinitely. As trivial as it may initially sound, sports have always been a distraction from the darkness of the world. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the country rallied around sports teams in New York and beyond as they honored those who lost their lives and provided a much-needed distraction through one of the darkest periods in U.S. history. Unfortunately, through this particular dark period there are no primetime games or matinee matchups to take our minds off of the mad world around us for the two or three hours we tune in.

As much as this tragic virus has taken from me, it has also given me plenty. For one, it has given me the opportunity to spend so much time with my immediate family that we practically hate one another. Jokes aside, this is truly a blessing in disguise because without this period of quarantine, I would have been out of the house at school or with my friends for the majority of the spring and summer. Since I am going away for school in the fall, bonding with my family while I still can will be a major point of emphasis for me moving forward when I normally would not have thought much about it.

This pandemic has also allowed me to do more trivial activities that I would usually not have time to do. Through these last ten weeks, I have become a Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney Pixar expert. I have explored the discography of Frank Sinatra, won five Stanley Cup championships with the New York Rangers on Xbox, played an unhealthy amount of cornhole, learned about the history of rock music, and watched countless movies and shows that I had been recommended over the last few years but I never had the time to watch.

But perhaps most importantly, this pandemic has given me a new appreciation for time. Before this virus, I took school for granted. Admittedly, I always counted down the hours until the end of the day, days until the weekend, and weeks until the next break or summer vacation. It was not until I discovered that I would never be returning to Lynbrook High School as a student that I regretted this. For the first time in my life, I wished that I was in a classroom with my friends and teachers. Now as an incoming college freshman, I can take this lesson that COVID-19 has taught me and make the most of the next four years of my academic life without wishing that I was somewhere else. Along with this, the coronavirus taught me more than to just appreciate school, but to appreciate life. Rather than count down the days to the next exciting event in my life, I must appreciate the fact that I can be out in the world, even if I am doing something I may not particularly enjoy. After being homebound for the better part of three months, I should continue my life after quarantine, appreciating every moment and making the most of each day while I can, because I can.

The world may not return to normal for some time. Colleges have been debating whether or not to open campuses for the fall; sports leagues are still early in discussions for a return to play; and many states are only in the first phase of reopening. But, no matter how bleak circumstances may look for the future, everything that this virus has taught me will help me to persevere. In my Marvel movie “research,” I came across a line that goes, “When the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it.” No matter how many stones are thrown at us in life, we must not take them as unjust disasters that will harm us, but instead as adversity that we can ultimately learn from and use to grow stronger both as individuals and as a human race.