By Genesis Smith-Lopez
Life without family has been hard to adjust to. I went from seeing them multiple times a week to once a month.
My family is made up of so many different personalities and schools of thought. I like being around them because they know I am different, too, and we accept each other.
When the coronavirus started to spread throughout the world, my family started to socially distance themselves from each other. I completely understand because we do have senior relatives, and if we want to make sure they’re safe we have to be safe ourselves, too. It has been frustrating to know that this won’t be over very soon since the numbers of cases are still rising and the people in charge of our country aren’t taking it seriously.
I miss sleeping over at my cousins, eating my aunt’s cooking, listening to my grandparents’ advice, and taking care of the younger members. Now all I can really do is send them a message to see if they’re doing well and staying healthy.
To occupy myself at home, I play video games a lot more now. I use streaming services more than I ever have before to make time pass by faster. Since I stopped seeing my family I’ve realized how much they’re integrated into my daily life. My older cousins are my role models and I know my younger cousins look up to me. It is nice to know that I’m very family oriented.
I hope that after the virus I can go back to spending my time with them. Many holidays are coming up and I’d hate to be away from them on those special days. I’m looking forward to traveling out of state and hopefully out of the country. It’s important I make up for that time lost because I’ve realized how fast life can change from one lifestyle to another even if it wasn’t my first choice. The pandemic makes me appreciate my time more on earth and keeps me present in important moments, even if I don’t realize they are important at the time.
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