Collected Item: “Siblings Reunited”
Give your story a title.
Siblings Reunited
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
text story
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
Entering the year 2020, my family was one where everyone was just starting to find their own. Myself & my four siblings (which includes my two sisters & two brothers) were all incredibly busy, leading lives that involved school, activities & sports & clubs, & jobs. I was in my second semester of community college & working full time in retail & both my sisters were doing the same. My brothers, one in high school & the other in middle school, were overwhelmed by school & sports that saw every one of their days fully booked. Half of us lived with my dad, the other half with my mom. We were busy & separated; any time spent together was savored but rare. On the occasional Saturday night when we were all under one roof & not busy, we would hang out for hours, watching movies, giving each other much needed life updates, & just talking. The five of us had been a unit as kids- we were each others’ best friends, playing together & laughing together. As we grew into teenagers & our lives began to move in different, hectic directions, it seemed to linger over all our heads if we would ever feel like that unit again.
In the first days of March in 2020, my siblings & I started to compare our emails from our schools & jobs about the new virus that was causing massive shut downs across the globe. Then my brothers’ schools decided to close for two weeks. Mine & my sisters’ colleges moved all classes online, our jobs closed for an undetermined amount of time. As a family, we decided that my siblings & I would be staying at my father’s house; my mother, who worked at a hospital, was terrified of bringing the virus home to us, as she was heavily exposed. For the first time in many years, the five of us kids were living under one roof; we were siblings reunited. As the “two week” school closures & brief workplace closings became indefinite closures, we all realized that we were going to be together in an odd state of limbo for quite some time. Although we were all collectively anxious, confused, & worried about our world & our loved ones, we leaned into our time together- we had a lot of it. We did our daily schoolwork together, went on long walks around the neighborhood, watched lots of movies & called our mom every night to check in on her. We played lots of cards & darts, & video games. While the world seemed so scary & unsafe & unsure, we had our home, our safety, our health, & each other- we had lots of blessings. It was not an easy time, but it was an important time. For two months, we spent every day together- no school or work or activities to draw us apart. We had all the time in the world together, & we were again that unit we once were as kids. In May, my sisters & I were able to go back to work. Some of us went back to our mom’s while the others stayed with our dad. We slowly went back into the world.
Those two months that my siblings & I lived together during the beginning of the covid pandemic changed our relationships completely. Our relationships grew into something they hadn’t been before; relationships based on trust & dependence on one another. Relationships that were made strong by guiding each other through adversity. Those two months gave us all time together we would never have had otherwise. Although the covid lockdowns were a challenging & frightening time for us all, they were special, because we were together again. I am so grateful for how the lockdowns changed my relationships with my siblings & I; we are closer now than we ever were because of what we went through. What those two months taught me is that no matter how uncertain life is, family is what will keep you grounded & safe.
In the first days of March in 2020, my siblings & I started to compare our emails from our schools & jobs about the new virus that was causing massive shut downs across the globe. Then my brothers’ schools decided to close for two weeks. Mine & my sisters’ colleges moved all classes online, our jobs closed for an undetermined amount of time. As a family, we decided that my siblings & I would be staying at my father’s house; my mother, who worked at a hospital, was terrified of bringing the virus home to us, as she was heavily exposed. For the first time in many years, the five of us kids were living under one roof; we were siblings reunited. As the “two week” school closures & brief workplace closings became indefinite closures, we all realized that we were going to be together in an odd state of limbo for quite some time. Although we were all collectively anxious, confused, & worried about our world & our loved ones, we leaned into our time together- we had a lot of it. We did our daily schoolwork together, went on long walks around the neighborhood, watched lots of movies & called our mom every night to check in on her. We played lots of cards & darts, & video games. While the world seemed so scary & unsafe & unsure, we had our home, our safety, our health, & each other- we had lots of blessings. It was not an easy time, but it was an important time. For two months, we spent every day together- no school or work or activities to draw us apart. We had all the time in the world together, & we were again that unit we once were as kids. In May, my sisters & I were able to go back to work. Some of us went back to our mom’s while the others stayed with our dad. We slowly went back into the world.
Those two months that my siblings & I lived together during the beginning of the covid pandemic changed our relationships completely. Our relationships grew into something they hadn’t been before; relationships based on trust & dependence on one another. Relationships that were made strong by guiding each other through adversity. Those two months gave us all time together we would never have had otherwise. Although the covid lockdowns were a challenging & frightening time for us all, they were special, because we were together again. I am so grateful for how the lockdowns changed my relationships with my siblings & I; we are closer now than we ever were because of what we went through. What those two months taught me is that no matter how uncertain life is, family is what will keep you grounded & safe.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#hst494, #lockdowns, #family
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
self
Give this story a date.
2025-02-03