Back to Family and Friends Time
As pandemic restrictions begin to fade away like a bad nightmare, and more people are getting fully vaccinated, you can almost hear the collective SIGH of relief from families everywhere – family time is back on the menu.
For far too long, we’ve been apart from our friends and family. We sacrificed so much for the greater good. We’ve had too many holidays, milestones, and celebrations apart. Our children missed cuddles with their grandparents, board games with aunts and uncles, playdates with classmates, and sugar-high birthday parties. We missed meals with our families, BBQs with our neighbours, beers with colleagues, and meeting up with fellow dads at the park. The village that it takes to raise our kids disappeared for what seems like an eternity and its finally time to take it all back.
As some restrictions lifted, we bubbled with another family with similar aged kids. Watching our boys re-learn how to play with other kids was both heartbreaking and incredibly joyous. At first there was some uncharacteristic shyness and a painful “is it ok if we hug?” moment. But only minutes into the play date, all four children remembered how wonderful it was to play together, to touch each other again, and to talk about all the things they couldn’t before. What really got me in “the feels” is when they started laughing together – that unmistakable belly-laugh that can only surface when surrounded by your friends. We all need to hear more of that laughter.
Now that our family members and close friends are all double-dose vaccinated, we are beginning to see them again. You can’t replicate that joy that comes from kids squeeze-hugging their family and friends. Sharing a drink or a meal together has become so much more meaningful and soul-warming. It’s so cliché – and yet so true – to say that we didn’t appreciate all the little things in our lives until they were gone. And here we are, experiencing them all over again and savouring every single minute.
It’s time to focus on simpler times with our kin. It’s time to gather and make plans again. It’s time to let our guards down and touch one another again. It’s time to stop dwelling on all that we missed and begin to heal and focus on all that we need. And yes, we NEED each other. It’s finally time to focus on our mental health, which needs much repairing, and we will get there together, surrounded by the ones we love.
Frank Emanuele is a proud father of two boys, a special education teacher, and a director of Dad Club London.
