During those grim days, when the world was struggling through a global pandemic, Alaya Horne provided us all with some comfort.
For nearly a year, through simple yet poignant turns of phrase, she chronicled the ups and downs of the pandemic in her diary, which is purple and shaped like a cat. And she shared those private thoughts with readers of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“These are some CRAZY times,” she wrote.
She expressed the same worries and fears that adults had as they masked up, sheltered in place, and figured out how to work safely as uncertain days turned into months. In her world, Mom was no longer just Mom. She also was her guide through the new world of virtual learning.
“This is all very new for me. People panic and get really scared. I usually have a lot of hope. But sometimes it goes away,” Alaya, who is now 12, wrote in one diary entry.
“I’ve been FaceTiming my friends, trying to help all of us. I just know that we’re all going to be OK,” she confided in another.
Page after page, a story of innocence and wonderment unfolded. Each entry provided a reminder of what it’s like to see the world — no matter how crazy or uncertain — through the eyes of a child.
These days, Alaya is busy attending middle school, singing in two choirs, and learning to read and write Korean on the weekends.
Because of the pandemic and the quarantine, Alay’s diary went unnoticed by some of her friends and fellow students because she was at home and doing her classwork online.