Senior year is a time that has been emphasized over and over again in popular culture and hallmark teenage movies— that is, senior year with all the trimmings. From prom night to moving the tassel on the graduation cap, these senior year rites of passage serve as a reward that makes every late night and cram study session worth the effort. A magnum opus, if you will, before moving on to college and the “real world.”

The COVID-19 virus has put an unexpected halt in my senior year, however, not to the same extent as some of my peers. I entered with the mentality to just get through my last year of high school with at least an inch of sanity and a decent amount of sleep; I put my focus into getting accepted to a “good” university and forming study habits that I could take into my freshman year of college. I put no thought into purchasing an overpriced dress or finding some last-resort prom date, and I only planned on going to graduation for the sake of my parents.

However, like any stubborn teenager, now that Coronavirus has made it potentially unlikely that festivities like graduation and prom will even take place, I only want to attend them more. I can’t help but fantasize about partying with my friends in a fancy dress or walking across a stage in a graduation gown all while I lay in my bed shrouded in darkness and empty chip bags like a hermit.

Instead of bumping shoulders at lunch or walking to class together, I have resorted to texting my friends or FaceTiming to talk about what movies they watched today rather than when and where the next party will be or how difficult the English quiz was this morning. I used to think that all I needed was a few days to rest and recharge my body from all of the stress and work that my senior year entailed, but now I miss the vigor and energy I experienced from a regular school routine. I suppose that it’s one of those “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone” things.

I am someone who constantly needs activity or else I will get restless, so being stuck inside my house all day understandably drives me crazy. I want to go out and see my friends and talk to people, but doing so could be extremely detrimental to two of the most important people in my life: my parents. It’s definitely uncommon for a seventeen-year-old to have baby boomer parents, but mine are in their mid-60s.

In consideration of their age and well-being, I have been practicing social distancing to better protect their health and my own. Young adults can carry and spread Coronavirus without showing any symptoms and in light of this, I have been isolating myself to protect the two people who have spent almost two decades protecting me.

This pandemic has humbled me. I am now more conscious of how even small actions can be inconsiderate to the more fragile people around me. Coronavirus has shown me that sacrificing things like prom or graduation is worth more than risking the health and well-being of others in our community. To me, postponing these events shows the strength and respect that the Class of 2020 has for those around us and the resilience of a group of people born in the aftermath of 9/11 and completing high school amid COVID-19.

My eighteenth birthday is in the first week of April and is supposed to be another momentous coming-of-age occasion, but because of this viral invasion, I have no options. There will be no big party with my friends to celebrate. However, since my friends and I have grown up in a technology-savvy time, it won’t be much trouble to plan a group video call like some modern age party line— although the cake may be a bit more difficult to pass out.

I think high school seniors couldn’t be better equipped to handle a situation like COVID-19. We understand how to handle tough situations and are comfortable in transitioning to technology that we have been around our entire lives. I feel like it is just another barrier that we have to experience before we can make that transition into young adulthood, just past this barrier and keep moving forward.

So what is this magnum opus that everyone is eager to experience or reminisce? It wasn’t what I expected but what I needed. Gaining a new perspective on the community around me and taking a look at our shaken comfort through a new lens, a lens that will nonetheless eventually become a melancholic rose-colored glass.