Rona Journal Week 3

4/19

Today some of my friends and I decided we should do yoga outside. My friend, Hannah, has a park she really likes in the Skokie Lagoons, so we decided to go there. One thing you should know about Hannah is that she always has her phone on do not disturb and she is always late to everything. None of us knew where the park was and Hannah gave us really bad directions and then she didn’t respond after that. My friend Claire, who was also coming, thought she knew where Hannah was talking about, so my friend, Emilia, and I met her at a baseball field and followed her. After weaving our way through the entire Skokie Lagoons, Claire found out she didn’t know where the park was. We turned around and decided we would just do it at the park on the opposite side of the lagoons (where we started) because Hannah wasn’t responding and we were confused. All of the driving wasn’t that bad because the scenery is beautiful and I could roll down the windows. The only reason all the driving was not ideal was that there were 20 million bikers who decided to not bike on the bike path instead on the road (okay, so I might have some road rage). On the way to the other park, at the only stop sign we hit, I recognized the car across from me, it was Hannah’s. I started to rapidly wave to her and we all pulled over. We figured out where the park was and got our yoga on. Well honestly we did yoga for sometime, a workout for a little bit, and we mostly just sat on our yoga mats and talked. The weather was so beautiful and we had so much fun that we decided we were going to do this every Sunday. 

4/21

Every year I go to camp, this summer is going to be my first year on staff. My camp is working so hard to be able to come to camp this year. Since I am under 18, I am part of junior staff (j-staff for short).  J-staff aren’t allowed on the staff zoom meetings, so yesterday we had our own j-staff zoom with our program leaders. This zoom was an opportunity for us to share our opinions on safety and coming to camp. We all were really into the idea of being at camp, even if it is with less people. My camp might be shortening sessions so they can serve everyone signed up for camp. Everything is still really up in the air but everyone is working extremely hard and communicating with us very well considering how little they know. Anyway, the consensus on the zoom is that everyone still really wants to go to camp and really wants the community to be able to come together during summer. It was really nice to see everyone who I haven’t seen in forever on the zoom and to know they still act the exact same, even if the vibe was moodier and more tired than at camp. 

4/22

I have always loved nature and that will never change, but now that we are in quarantine I feel I appreciate it more. I enjoy just going outside and feeling the sun on my face, so I am going to a ton of walks and runs right now. On Sunday I went on a walk with my mom to Indian Hill. On the walk I had to stop and smell every plant I passed. I have always loved the way spring smells: the fresh, misty, light, grassy, scent is my favorite smell in the world. Another thing I live about spring is the way it feels. The best feeling is walking out of your house on a spring day and just feeling the warm breeze consume you. I also love the way the sun reflects on everything and brightens everything, especially after the long winter. I even love the rainy days of spring. The smell of rain, the sound of rain pattering on windows, something about it just makes me want to go outside and run around. My favorite type of weather, however, is mist. We are lucky enough to have had a pretty misty spring so far. I love the fact that you can’t see far away from you and you have to focus on what is nearby, it is very centering. I also love the way mist feels: dewy but light at the same time. Being at home right now is nice in the sense that I get to be outside more and appreciate the weather more since during the school year I am inside eight hours a day (I do early bird). I do miss those days in school when it is a sneak peak of summer and most of your classes go outside and no one can focus, even the teachers, those are the best days.