I don't remember when I first learned this word.
My mind tells me it was at some point in primary school, around fifth grade, so I'll take that.
If that's true, then it took roughly 10 years for me to experience this word. Which, for now, is the longest amount of time it has taken for me to experience the meaning of a word.
If you're confused as to what I mean, let me offer a brief explanation:
Like me, you've probably experienced a feeling before you've learned the word and definition.
I'm sure I've felt love at 2 years old, and then at 5 years old I learned how to spell it and what it meant.
A lot of times, you learn a word before you feel or experience it. So like me, you've probably known the definition of drive before you've driven (which I am yet to do), or you've known how to define sex but you only learned what it meant (and felt like) much later.
Well, that's pandemic to me.
In my mind, I grouped it with a bunch of other things I deemed most likely to experience. It used to be in a little box with war and an apocalypse. I hope that box stays closed because I'm not ready to let another horrid word slip out.
Fall Out Boy said:
“If death is the last appointment, then we're all just sitting in the waiting room.”
I've always thought about how absolutely true that line is. But between the bustle of daily life, I never really knew what it felt like.
Well, now I feel like I'm sitting in a packed waiting room.
And everybody is coughing.
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