The Gifts of Quarantine: Time at My Home Away From Home by Sofia Toth, Age 10

Sofia is with her mom Martha in upstate New York and we caught up with her to ask a few questions.

Sofia, what have been the gifts of this time of quarantine? What have you enjoyed about it?
 
It’s nice to have time to do things. Like art projects or bake or really anything you want. And your school day ends when your work is done. It’s amazing how you have time on a Wednesday night when I’d usually have violin practice from 3-5.  We’re rushing home, eating dinner, really quickly taking a shower. I don’t have time like this. 

​I have more time to hang out to my dog Steve. Steve is a totally different dog here. He doesn’t want to snuggle in NY and now he just wants to love you and it’s just amazing. I have class during the week and enrichment activities. I made this car, it was fun. I figured out how to make it on my own. My teachers are really nice.

I see a lot of flowers outside and they’re so beautiful. I pick them all the time because they’re so pretty and so my mom and aunt got me some vases and I started collecting flowers to put in the vases. These are the ones I have right now.

Last Wednesday I made pretzels with my mom. I asked her, “Why don’t we do this at home?” And she said, “Well, we don’t usually have time on a Wednesday night. We’re rushing around and now we have time do that.”
 
My mom is fun. She lets me do a lot of things. She’s nice, loving and takes care of me. 

I miss my dad. He’s not here with me. He’s in NYC and I can only FaceTime chat with him. And it’s hard.

So what do you do when you feel sad?  
 
Sometimes I ask my mom to call my dad. Sometimes I don’t really write but draw my feelings. Sometimes I scribble because I’m angry. I draw a sad person because I’m sad. It’s according to my emotions. Sometimes it makes me feel better but sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone about it. It makes me feel better, to have someone pray for me and I feel like I’m embraced in God and that makes me feel better, like I’m loved.