In this time of quarantine and COVID-19, it is so easy to get caught up in all the negative ways our lives are being impacted. Believe me, I get it. It is extremely difficult to adjust to working from home and even harder to see the news. There is so much sadness and fear in the world right now; so for this article, I decided to focus on what has been my light in the dark in this difficult time. For me, being home has strengthened my relationship with my sisters, since we are all in the same house all day!
I am the oldest of four girls, and there is a five year age gap between me and my next sister. Growing up, it always felt like those three sisters were closer just because they were closer together in age. I often felt sad when I was in high school because I just could not figure out how to bridge that gap between us. We got along (most of the time), but we never got super close. I think I was probably going about it all wrong. Rather than taking time to understand the place they were at in life (since I had been there after all), I got frustrated that they could not understand what was going on in my life. While they still played with dolls, I was frustrated that they weren’t interested in what went on in my middle school. This carried on to high school. I wanted us to be close, but I wasn’t actually putting in the work or the effort to be interested in what was important to them. I have never been much of an athlete, but my sisters Elizabeth and Katie are. I had never been a big artist, but my sister Mary is. Instead of embracing these talents of theirs and trying to relate, I would blow it off because I wasn’t good at it. Of course, I regret this now, but I can only move forward.
While this quarantine situation is not ideal, it has given me a chance to strengthen my relationship with my sisters. With all of my family working or doing school from home, there is a common experience we can all relate to, which has brought us closer. My family sits together while we get our work done. We can have family dinners every night, where I have tried to focus on talking to my sisters. I have tried to take part in what they like to do, since luckily their talents fit in with social distancing. Strangely enough, playing basketball with my Dad and my sisters has been one of my favorite parts of my days. As I said before, I certainly was never a basketball player before. To be honest, I am still absolutely terrible, but that’s not the point. Playing basketball with my family in our driveway has brought us together in this tough time. It gives me time to spend with my sisters, which I wouldn’t have taken part in before because I was bad at basketball. Although this may seem small, I really have seen it transfer over to other parts of my life with my sisters. We hang out and talk about our lives more than ever before. I am so happy for these changes. Before these conversations, I never saw how similar my sisters and I actually were because I was so focused on the differences.
While it definitely should not have taken being quarantined in a pandemic for this to happen, I am still glad that I am building better relationships with my sisters now. I know that even when this is all over, I will continue to put even more effort into my relationships with my sisters because I love being closer to them, and I want to keep this up.
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