On Nov. 17, I was contact-traced and placed into quarantine housing in the Knight Center. With my prescribed ten days alone, I knew I was going to be spending Thanksgiving by myself. I had been thinking about it for a while, nervous about how I would handle the holiday without the usual gathering of family and friends.

In the nine days leading up to the 26th, I was busy with work, Zooms and FaceTimes from just about when I woke up to when I closed my eyes at night. In order to keep my sanity, I had to be constantly occupied. This process also involved reading, heavy use of my phone and single-person dance parties. But what would happen when I had a full day off?

Here’s how it played out:

Morning(ish)

Okay, to be fair, I slept through most of the morning. This was generally intentional because as pitiful as this may sound, I wasn’t really looking forward to spending a lot of hours awake on my quarantine Thanksgiving Day. So I woke up, checked the clock and fell back asleep. Repeat times five, until around 11:30 a.m. Then I got up, and put on an episode of the podcast “This American Life” while I got dressed, brushed my teeth and washed my face. I put on jeans to mark the occasion. It got so quiet in there that I needed music or noise at all times. I decided that since it was, despite my intentional ignorance of the fact, Thanksgiving, I should do some thinking about what I was grateful for. I ended up writing letters to family and friends back home, which did a lot to boost my mood. Despite the lack of usual holiday fanfare, I still had a lot to be grateful for.

Afternoon

From noon to five, I stayed on FaceTime calls and family Zooms––the latter of which played out much like a typical family gathering, with dogs barking in the background, remarks of how old cousins have gotten and sly texts to one another on the side. The familiarity of these scenes was comforting, as even though our situation was anything but normal, my family hadn’t changed a bit. In between the family calls, I talked to old friends from home and new ones from school, attempting to simulate conversations at the imaginary Friendsgiving party I would someday love to throw in real life. The conversation topics ranged from pie crust to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, all fulfilling in their own way.

Thanksgiving Meal

I was given a massive bag of food for the main meal which, in honor of tradition, I ate as a midday meal rather than a clear lunch or dinner. I chose the vegan option, with some pleasant surprises (mini vegan pies!) and a few disappointments (Thanksgiving food really needs real butter). The clear winner of the day was the personal chocolate mousse cake, which was delicious despite the lack of dairy products. During this meal, I Zoomed my immediate family, giving a play-by-play of each dish. In turn, they described their meal plans, including my dad’s once-a-year stuffing and my sister’s apple pie from scratch. It was bittersweet, however, because even though I was happy to see all of their faces, bad WiFi and small square screens were reminders of how alone I was in my hotel room.

Evening

To wind down for the day, I took a long, hot shower and changed into sweats. Even though I had been by myself the whole day, this was the first time my room was truly quiet—no voices coming through a screen, no music, no Ira Glass.

Instead of immediately remedying that, I tried to sit in the silence and reflect on the day. I have found, however, that some days should not be reflected on, only lived through. This day was one of them. So instead of meditating further, I turned my speaker on to soothing music (Lo-Fi beats if you’re curious) and pulled out my book detailing an old-time English veterinarian’s stories from the Yorkshire farmlands. There’s really nothing like the colorful description of birthing a baby cow to take your mind off of quarantine Thanksgiving.

Later in the evening I called a couple more friends, stuck my head out of my door to wave at my fellow quarantined buddy across the hall, and, yes, listened to another podcast. With the day finally ending, I had one more thing to be grateful for: the next morning. I was being released from quarantine housing and had the promise of a make-up Friendsgiving dinner Friday night. With dreams of pumpkin pie and real human interaction dancing through my mind, I fell asleep.