After her marathon late-night discussion with Ellowyne, Pru fell into bed and deep slumber. Indeed, she almost slept through her alarm, which wouldn’t be a bad thing except that she was going to have a group FaceTime conversation with Lizette and Amber at 8:30AM sharp. She stretched, showered, brewed some green tea, and sprinkled some homemade granola onto her Greek yogurt. Lizette was already on FaceTime, so they chatted a bit before Amber joined them.

“Hey, Pru,” Lizette asked, “how long do you think this COVID thing is going to last?”

“I don’t know, Liz. Either it’s going to get done quickly or it will drag on for months.”

“I’m worried about finishing our courses and how this might impact everyone who is going to graduate school. I’m going to UC Davis for veterinary school, Amber’s doing law school at Stanford, Rufus is staying at Berkeley, and you’re staying at State for holistic health and physical therapy. Ellowyne said she was going for her MFA but either she decided against it or she just didn’t get in.”

Prudence scoffed. “Ellowyne not get in to an MFA program? I don’t believe that. Maybe she’s just taking off a year before going back.”

“Well, and then there’s Penn,” Lizette said. “His ultimate goal is to work on a  medivac helicopter, but he needs a couple of years of critical care and ER experience before he can apply.”

“Now is he thinking of graduate school?”

Liz thought for a minute. “You know, he has talked about getting an advanced nursing degree, like to be a nurse practitioner. Or a nurse anesthetist.” 

Just then, Amber joined the discussion. She shouted, “Heifers!”, which was a big joke she shared with all of her female friends. 

Lizette and Prudence replied, “Cow!” And the three of them giggled and mooed.

After an enjoyable chat with Amber and Lizette, Pru went to her room to meditate. She lit some candles and turned on some music for a guided meditation. Breathe in, breathe out. Empty your head of distracting, negative thoughts. Now chant. “Om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum.” When she had finished her meditation, she felt refreshed. 

Prudence was a busy woman. She played rugby and softball and flirted with roller derby. She attended Zumba, circuit training, and hot yoga classes. She loved her college courses, and enjoyed the mental challenges they posed. And she enjoyed spending time with her friends, sometimes doing fun activities and other times just hanging out. She and Penn often discussed healthcare, with him finishing nursing school and her starting the physical therapy program at State in the fall. Now, she had no classes since it was spring break. She couldn’t practice with her sports teams, and she wasn’t able to hang out with her friends because of COVID restrictions. She immediately put a Tai Chi DVD into the player to occupy her mind and give her something to do since otherwise, she had nothing.

To be continued…