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family time
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2022-04-05
Masks are still required in Mexico
As someone who lives in a border town and travels to Mexico quite often, due to the fact that the U.S dollar in Mexico is twenty pesos, from an economic standpoint, it allows me to enjoy my time in Mexico quite well with my family. The only catch is that masks are required everywhere; it does not matter if you are fully vaccinated or not. As long as you keep using masks, you are good in Mexico, from tourism to recreational activities to travel across the country. It's something to consider when traveling to Mexico because I live 30 minutes away from the border to San Luis, Mexico, and sometimes I forget that I need to wear a mask in Mexico since they are no longer required in the U.S in 2022. -
2021-02-08
#JOTPYSilver submission from Morgan Keena
Silver lining - I got to spend far more time with my husband over the last year than I ever imagined. He’s a busy 3rd year med student but this pandemic really slowed things down for both of us. @covid19archive1 #JOTPYSilver -
2020-04
Family facetime
At the start of lockdown it became clear that my family would not be able to see each other for a while. Most of my family lives in Sydney, some of us live in Melbourne, regional Victoria and Canada. In response, my sister initiated a Coffey Family FaceTime every night at 6:30pm with whoever was available. However, this meant teaching my grandmothers how to use Facebook and how to start a call. More than 8 months later and both my grandmothers still can’t turn their video on without direction and also can’t start Facebook calls. This call kept us together when we felt far away. Celebrating father’s day and birthdays and anniversaries on FaceTime made some moments more memorable and some feel more lonely. Face timing each other was fun until there was a family dinner in Sydney and you couldn’t leave the state. However, there were fun moments, stirring up my parents dogs by yelling “walkies” or “dindins” and then leaving the call, FaceTiming on empty trams and using the weird face effects to confuse my grandmother about who’s camera was whose. The call gave structure to the days spent inside and caused me to talk to my grandmothers and extended family more about the current world events. HIST30060 -
2020-04-04
Homemade Potstickers
I woke up Saturday morning feeling drained after 12 hours of sleep. As a teenager in the middle of a pandemic, I had nothing to do except to fix a messed up sleep schedule. I got out of bed at 1 PM and decided I would not do anything that day. I was ready to be back in bed and binge Netflix. Suddenly my sister along with my mom and dad and cat burst in my room and told my tired self that we were going to make potstickers. UGH. I told them to go away and that I was busy. An hour later I could smell something coming from the kitchen, something delicious. I could hear my stomach rumbling and I was ready for some food in my belly. I went to the kitchen and saw that the first batch of potstickers were done cooking, they looked perfect! The dough after being pan-fried became crispy and golden brown, and the inside was warm and flavorful. I wanted to help make more (so I could eat more) and turns out, folding potstickers is not as easy as it looks. In comparison with the rest of my family’s, my folded potstickers looked like a total disaster. At least it still tasted good! I didn’t watch Netflix for the rest of the day and I’m glad I didn’t. The time I spent with my family that day will forever be part of me and I hope my family in the future will make even more memories together. -
2020-07-04
Pulling the Good from the Bad
Quarantine has brought a lot of added stress in everyone's life since March. I lost my job and so did my siblings which was a hard time for all of us. But the one good thing that came out of that was this summer I have been able to be at home with my siblings and parents and spend a lot of time with them that I normally would not have. We all normally work full time which takes up most of our schedule so due to being at home we have all become a lot closer and got to spend all of our time together which has been really nice. -
2020-07-21
Stopping to smell the flowers.... and focus on gratitude
Since mid-May, our 18yo son's friend has been living with us. D's mother is immunocompromised, and he needed to return to work when restaurants re-opened to save money for college in the fall. He moved in, adding a fourth teenager to our house. He is a wonderful guest and we have enjoyed having him. It can't be easy for him to live with a family that is not his own, but he handles it very well. Last week, these flowers arrived for me. D's dad and grandmother sent them (they live out of state) as a thank you for us hosting D these past months. I was so surprised and touched by the gesture. I know D and his family are grateful that he has a safe place to live while ensuring his family's health, and I appreciate that. While literally stopping my day to smell my flowers, I started thinking about gratitude, and the ways I will always be grateful to 2020: - My family is healthy, safe and together. - I realize that my son knows the value in surrounding himself with good people; getting to know his friend has been a blessing. - We were able to continue our school and work lives, even while isolated at home. Not all are so lucky. - As things re-open slowly, our lives are not returning to the crazy levels of busy that is our normal. Instead of school and practices and large gatherings, small groups of friends are coming over almost every day, and I love having a full house. - Our future plans are still moving forward, albeit in a different format. Online classes for my high schoolers and hybrid college classes for college kids. Working from home. We are making it all work. - While we haven't been having family crafting projects or other Instagram worthy activities, we have been able to connect often and easily. A conversation about politics; one about ethics; another about relationships. All of these happened organically because we are physically together. Also conversations about LeBron vs. Michael and ranking of the Star Wars franchise; not every conversation is deep. - Most importantly, I realize that the first half of 2020 was a gift: I got extra time with my kid, right before he leaves for college. I got extra time with my high schoolers that wasn't carved out of a crazy schedule. My husband and I spent time reading next to each other and doing puzzles. It would be crazy for me to say 2020 has been wonderful; it hasn't. It has been awful. However, even in these crazy and unsure times, there can be gratitude. And flowers. And Star Wars movies. -
2020-05-17
Social Distancing
This is a photo that a good friend of mine, Katie DiPietro took during a family session where she was required to stay 6ft away and give ten min session breaks for clean up. She called this pose the "social distancing pose"...as you can see my family thought it was very funny. This session was brilliant because for a short moment, we forgot all about the virus. The fear and worry went away and for half an hour, we could enjoy extra time as a family. -
15/04/2020
Beauty is All Around Us
Spring is a magical time in the desert. The weather and cacti blooms are nothing short of amazing. My two young daughters and I spent a lot of time outside during this quarantine and always looked forward to our daily walks where we could admire the bright colors and unique shapes of the cacti blooms. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful area. -
2020-04-14
The Importance of Family
This is a photo of my little sister and I embarking on a 'journey' to the grocery store. Before this strange time, running an errand was something I never gave any thought. It oddly feels like so long ago: I would just grab my car keys and head out the door. Now, I need to take multiple precautionary steps before I go in public. It is still near impossible to wrap my head around the fact that the steps one needs to take (finding something to cover your face, having gloves ready or at least having hand sanitizer accessible) could literally be a matter of life and death. Not to mention, one needs to wipe down all the items that are purchased and brought back home. Now that I calculate my every move, like limiting what I touch, I realize more and more how much I previously took the little things for granted. I miss being around my friends, playing board games and sharing pizza. These are lonely times, and I could only imagine what it is like for those who live alone. I am so lucky to have my family so I don't go totally insane. This time has brought opportunities for us to have long talks that we would not normally have. This stagnant time has allowed us to discuss topics we would not otherwise dive into: topics of faith, philosophy, community, and what it means to be human. #REL101 -
2020-04-30
Gardening to keep busy
My mom has been gardening as a hobby for as long as I could remember. Since we're in quarantine together, I have been helping her with her gardening recently. It's been a good way to keep busy and not feel like we're locked in all day. The image attached is a sunflower that recently bloomed. #REL101 -
2020-04-30
Gardening
My mom has been gardening as a hobby for as long as I could remember. Since we've been in quarantine together, I've been spending more time with her helping her with her gardening. It's been a good way to keep busy and not feel like we're trapped inside all day. The image attached is a sunflower that recently bloomed. #REL101 -
2020-04-18
At home salon
My family and I are taking this pandemic better every day. I live in a household of 3 women and we have been having hair troubles. The hair salons and nails shops were the last to close and we were regular clients in our local hair salon. Our safety and health come first, so I see the need for them to be closed. Since we no longer have access to them, we have formed our own little salon in our home to accommodate us and other women in our family. We have not only solved our hair problems but gave us bonding time with some of the rest of our family. I have realized that been though this is a rough time today in our world. This pandemic has given us more family time.