Dec. 1, 2020
By Brianna Tartaglia
Staff Writer
When the quarantine began, I had no idea what a long journey it was going to be. At first, I thought of it as a brief break from school and assumed life would quickly return to normal. Unfortunately, this was not the case. However, I am grateful that I had my family by my side during these challenging months.
Prior to the pandemic, I was not as close to my family as I am now. We were all busy. My sister was in school, my father was going to work every day and my mom was taking care of the house and helping my dad.
As soon as we began sheltering in place in mid-March, I realized how hard it was to avoid my family. Even though my father still went to work, he came home early and spent time with us. We all started getting bored and slowly began doing more and more activities together.
Most people take their families for granted. They never realize their families are there to support them. I certainly did not. While I really enjoy personal space and being by myself, as soon as I started opening up to my family and we started spending more time together, I understood that our family would never again have this opportunity to bond, so we might as well use the time wisely.
Before the pandemic, my family and I never really had a close relationship. Even when we ate dinner or tried to go out for lunch, it never worked out. Since March, we have been watching movies together including Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp” and “101 Dalmatians.” We also started sitting at the family table for meals and spoke about what we did during the day. Some nights we even played games like Uno or baked a dessert like cinnamon rolls.
I needed a really huge wake-up call to realize how weak my relationship with my family was and how it needed to be repaired during the extra time we had together. I am glad I now understand how important it is for me to communicate with them so that we can be a support system for each other.
Even with our strengthened bond, being together all the time has had its ups and downs. Too much togetherness sometimes led to disagreements, and if an argument started, everyone in the house could hear it. No family gets along 100 percent of the time. In fact, even the closest families have their problems, which is perfectly fine. There are always going to be arguments, which is why I have learned to forgive and forget since, after all, they are my family.
I needed a really huge wake-up call to realize how weak my relationship with my family was and how it needed to be repaired during the extra time we had together. I am glad I now understand how important it is for me to communicate with them so that we can be a support system for each other.
Not only has my relationship with my parents changed but with my sister as well. She is only seven years old, but she loves being around my parents and spending time with them. Once I joined together with our family, I could tell she was really happy.
Some people do not have families to help them cope, and some don’t have a strong enough relationship to even be around each other. There are also those whose parents are divorced or separated. I am lucky to have my family with me all the time, and now I savor our precious time together.
This year, I realized I must not take my family for granted and should always appreciate the little moments because one day we will not be able to be all together like this, and I do not want to have regrets. Being together has helped my mental health and theirs. Our bond as a family became stronger, and our loneliness, boredom and my own isolation stopped altogether once I realized my family is there for me.
