Ever since the spread of the Coronavirus hit our country and the numbers of sick people have been increasing, my life has been pretty different. I have been working outdoors for a winery maintaining their grapes everyday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with my father ever since schools were cancelled. I started working at my summer job about three weeks ago, but now I’ve been working everyday pulling branches for my dad to cut every vine. I pull each one, and we do this for every line of grapes. There are so many lines of grapes, and different locations with acres of winery, so my father and I go from field to field each day. 

Working outdoors really distracts me from what’s happening all around the world. Sometimes I completely forget what’s going on until my dad listens to the news on his phone.  Then it reminds me all over again. All the bad news is really overwhelming and sad. I can tell my dad is worried, and so am I mostly because of his age. For the past couple of weeks, my dad hasn’t let me go out as I had before the virus spread. 

My days have been exhausting. I come home from work, shower and cook for my dad and sometimes for my sister and niece.  Then I go to sleep and I’m up at 6:20 a.m. and out the door by 7:00 a.m. I can’t really complain. I love earning money and being outdoors, even though it wipes me out.  This gives me time to appreciate how beautiful nature is, and it also makes me appreciate my dad. It shows me how hardworking he is and how he does everything for us. 

The changes have been pretty weird. Everything has changed, and not being able to go outside is depressing for me, and I’m sure, for a lot of other people. A big majority of people are getting COVID-19, and it’s spreading so quickly all around the world.  Supposedly the numbers are supposed to increase instead of decrease the next couple of months. That’s pretty frightening and messes up senior year. Of course, our health comes first. I hope the world gets better, because we’re all in this together.