Life Bottled Up

What I’ve learned about myself and my great wishes in the age of shelter-in-place

Like many around me, I have learned a great deal since the NBA canceled its season on March 11.

Different groups assign different start dates to the COVID-19 crisis: epidemiologists saw it coming since December, when citizens of Wuhan began appearing with strange pneumonias; Senator Richard Burr (R-NC, no relation) seemingly saw it coming since February 13, when he cashed out of the market after a senate pandemic briefing; and people with assets saw it coming on March 16, when the markets had their third worst day ever.

Young sports fans knew this was real the night the league took basketball away.

Within the hours after, fourteen friends and I called off a trip to New Orleans rather than risk stumbling into a quagmire in the bayou. Yes, the NBA likely raised more alarm bells in my demographic than Anderson Cooper, Lester Holt, and Walter Cronkite combined. Our news comes from all over, including satire shows and athletes who don’t “shut up and dribble.” At least we’re getting it.

Since whenever we all agreed this is a BFD, we’ve learned new terms like social distancing and flattening the curve. I am, it is worth noting, genuinely scared, but the best I can do is to stay healthy and stay at home. Many of my peers in quarantine have…