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Author Mandy Writes about Her Experiences in Quarantine
May-25-2020
Services
Mandy, a resident of one of Imagine!'s group homes, is an incredibly talented author. Two years ago she published a collection of short stories and hosted a book signing party to celebrate! If you are interested in buying her book, you can still grab a copy here. Since then, Mandy has not stopped writing and has been working with Kirk Margoles, an Imagine! Community and Employment Services instructor, to continue creating stories while in quarantine. She has submitted the following story about her experience during this confusing time and wanted us to share it all with you. Thank you, Mandy! We are always excited to read another incredible piece authored by this talented woman.
Mandy’s Quarantine Story
I‘m sitting in my bedroom wondering what’s going to happen next. My daily routine has been changed and it’s unknown when things are going to get back to normal. We are in quarantine because of this Coronavirus. My roommates and I have been doing some things to keep ourselves busy during this time. I’ve been playing on my iPad, Karen has been talking on the phone to her friends, Johnny has been practicing his English with staff, Rebecca has been listening to music and coloring at the kitchen table, and Tony has been listening to Kirk from Community Employment Services play his guitar on Zoom. Bobby has been relaxing in his bed and watching his favorite movies and shows. Luke has been hanging out on his favorite couch playing with his busy box and watching Barney on television.
This quarantine is making me feel helpless because I cannot do the things that are important to me like going to Community Employment Services and sometimes going out in the community with one of my special friends afterwards. Some of the things that I’ve been doing to keep myself busy and occupied is TYE Dyeing T-shirts. They are very colorful and bright. I have been adding decals onto the T-shirts. I like to put cakes and other sweet things like that on them. If I put sweet things on my T-shirts, they makes it more appealing for me to wear. I’ve also been using a bread machine to bake some bread and it turned out to be very tasty. The bread that we all were eating was so sweet it was almost like eating a piece of dessert, and it was really good. At some point I would love to own a bread machine.
One of the things that is really making me feel uncomfortable is that I can’t go to Community Employment Services at this time and I can’t see any of my friends there and it is unknown when we are going to be able to go back. Some of my closest friends are there and sometimes we go out into the community afterwards. I will be honest, our friendship means everything to me. I can’t wait until everything is back to normal, that also includes our daily routines. It will be strange at first because we have been away from Community Employment Services for so long. It will be nice to see all the clients and the staff. I feel the hardest part for me will be getting out of bed at six A.M. in the morning!
By Mandy Kretsch
