I sat on the daybed in my room with my iPad resting on my lap desk. I was in the waiting room for my advisory zoom. I was texting my friends asking, “Are you still in the waiting room, too?” About one minute later, I was accepted into the zoom and started my day. I kept fiddling around with the virtual background feature on my iPad because I thought it was cool to change up my background. I tried to say something on the zoom, but nobody could hear me because my brother was talking at the same time. I tried to move to a different spot in the house, but every room was either being used, or didn’t have a good spot to zoom from. After a few zooms my brother and I finally were able to share the room without speaking at the same time. 

    I finished my classes at around 12:30 and went downstairs to have some lunch. My mom was prepared, like she always is, and had made me a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich. Eli (my brother), my mom, and I sat down to have lunch and my mom asked about our day. I told her that it was fine because basically all the zooms were the same. We didn’t really do any work in the classes because it was the first day of online school, so all of the teachers just asked us how we were doing. As soon as Eli started to speak, we all heard my dad start laughing. My mom said, “What is that?”

    “Yeah, why is Dad laughing so weird?” Eli responded.

    We all stared at him for a minute when it came to me. “It’s his work laugh.” I said. “Chandler has one in Friends and Monica hates it.” We all sat there smirking at my dad’s work laugh while we finished our lunch.

    After lunch, I went back upstairs and watched TV for about a half an hour before I decided to get some exercise and ride the Peloton. I felt as sluggish as a snail and I thought that getting exercise would make me feel better. I walked into my parents room and hopped on the bike to do a thirty minute ride. 

    Thirty minutes later, I was exhausted, but I felt much better because I got some endorphins. I decided to go play one on one with Eli. When I asked him if he wanted to play he said, “Yes. I’m going to crush you.” I just laughed and grabbed the ball to go outside. 

    We each took a couple of shots to get warmed up and then started the game. I quickly went up 3-0 because I was bigger than him and I could shoot and finish over him. After I missed a shot, he got the rebound and dribbled it back up top to clear it. I backed off him and said, “Shoot it. You won’t”. Of course, he then shot it, and as I predicted, he missed. I grabbed the rebound and passed it back to him to check it. His face turned red and his smile was gone. He passed me the ball and got right up in my face, constantly moving his feet. I tried to go by him, but he was right there the whole time and he got a stop. We continued to play for another thirty minutes going back and forth before I hit a step back jump shot to win the game. We both went back inside exhausted and needing some water. 

    A couple of minutes later, I headed back outside with my dogs and my mom, my sister, and my brother. We walked down to the beach and walked our dogs from one end to the other. Their tails wagged as they walked and they had smiles on their faces. I looked off into the distance and I watched the sun start to set and the waves crash against the beach. Although it was quiet and remote, it was also peaceful and calming. 

    When we got back, my dad was finishing his final zoom of the day and was getting ready for dinner. We set the table and put the food out. I was starving and started devouring my food. My dad and I started talking about the Red Sox and how we thought the team would be when the season started. It was unusual for my dad to be home for dinner, and it was awesome to be able to talk and laugh with him.

    It wasn’t a normal, pre-covid day or a perfect day in any way, but it had it’s silver linings and turned out to be a day to remember.