Tell Us Your COVID Story

It's been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began. In that time, much of the world has changed. More than half a million Americans have lost their lives. Millions of people lost their jobs, schooling was upended for nearly every child - really, our entire way of life in America was turned on its head.

Perhaps you want to discuss the loss of a loved one, or you developed a new hobby as you spent more time at home. Maybe you read a book that changed your outlook on life, or you learned skills to cope with time spent in isolation. We invite you to share photos, audio, and short video clips as part of your story.

We want to hear from you. You can share your story at our COVID Stories submission form. There you'll find a list of questions to help prompt reflection over this past year and what lies ahead. We'll place these stories for our digital archives to share with future generations and, starting next week, we'll share some of the ones that we've found most touching, moving, humorous, or informative at our COVID Stories page.

TELL US YOUR COVID STORY >>>

Aaron Gernes, host of the DMPL Podcast and Communications Specialist at the library, has his own COVID Story. It's about a major life event and plans that had to change:

We Got Married During COVID

As my fiancée and I got closer to the day of our October wedding, we made the decision to drastically cut the size of our wedding. It was important for us that our grandparents, all in their 80s, be able to safely attend. We had a very small ceremony – just immediate family, about 14 people. We even convinced one of my brothers to get ordained so he could wed us.

It would have been wonderful to have all our friends and family there to celebrate with us, but our family was most important, and they were there. I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. We bought a Polaroid to capture different parts of the day. My brother-in-law made sure to grab it during our first dance, getting up close and capturing some photos of pure joy that always resonate me when I think about the day.