Covid Chronicles: Savoring sister time during pandemic
This is the fourth installment of the Covid Chronicles blog from a Castleton University Media Writing class detailing students’ experiences during the pandemic.
COVID-19 became the cause of family reunions worldwide; my family was no exception.
I returned home in mid-march from my study abroad being cut short. In the few weeks following my return, my two older sisters made the decision to come back to Vermont as well.
For two weeks it was just my parents and I. Then it was time to pick up one sister flying in from California at the airport. A few weeks after that, we drove halfway between Burlington and New York City to grab my eldest sister.
By April, our house was full again, much to our mother’s delight.
We hadn’t truly lived together since 2013 after my first sister graduated high school. I won’t lie, I slightly dreaded what might happen living with my sisters again. We can get on each other’s nerves like no one else. I was afraid of endless bickering and being constantly confined in the same house.
Then the unexpected happened. We actually lived in peace for three months. I still do not know how we managed that. Of course, there were a few comments and tiffs here and there. But nothing too extreme.
COVID-19 gave our family this wonderful time together. It is one of the only positives I can find as a result of these circumstances. We would have never had this time together without the shutdown.
They have since moved back to their lives in separate states. Life moves on even in the midst of a pandemic.
This summer will always hold a special place in my heart, even though it was the furthest thing away from how I saw it going back in January.