Story, Photos and Video by Cheyenne Boone
On March 17, I began packing all of my belongings and emptying my apartment. A few days prior, RIT made the decision to remove current students from all university housing by April 5th for the protection of their own health and safety due to the coronavirus epidemic. I knew the decision was coming, but I still was not prepared for the shock of having to leave a place that I called my temporary home so abruptly.
My experiences and presence at school and my childhood home are quite different. I was looking forward to spending more quality time with my family but living at home as an adult can become complicated. Sometimes it can feel like I’m not in control of my own schedule or routine, and someone is always checking in to see what I’m doing throughout the day. There is never any alone time. With my mother, father, sister, and brother being home due to the epidemic, we have a full house. I definitely am not used to sharing my bedroom with my sister anymore or one bathroom with five people.
Although there are small inconveniences, I am grateful for the ways in which this situation has allowed me to come back to my roots and bond with my family. Home for me is free, lively, unpredictable, and most of the time pretty crazy. There is never a dull moment. We are always cracking jokes with each other, working on different projects, and enjoying the outdoors together. Last night we sat around my living room until midnight reminiscing on some of the crazy memories we’ve made together. My siblings and I used to perform talent shows, make homemade meals, and we even put on a makeshift wedding for my parents. I was only about seven at the time and of course my sister had to be the minister for the wedding, and we dressed my five year old brother up as the bride in my old, frilly Easter dress.
Within two weeks, I have been doing things with my family that I haven’t gotten to do since I was a child and it reminds me so much of growing up. Almost every day I have a jump rope battle with my dad, seeing who can, as he says “criss cross applesauce,” the best. The past few evenings I have been crawling through pricker bushes for hours with my little brother searching intently for deer antlers.
At the end of each day I cuddle up on the couch with my mom and we watch all of our favorite TV shows before bed. At night we force my Dad to hand over the remote, so we can watch The Real Housewives of Atlanta or Below Deck. Our family favorite right now is American Idol. We all like to pretend we’re the judges and guess who will go home and who will make it to the next round of the competition. All of these things might sound crazy or weird to some people, but this is what I love most about my family.
No matter how busy I get, how long I’ve been gone, or if the world goes into quarantine because of an epidemic, I can always come home. Looking forward, I predict that I will be living at home with my family until the summer. I’m sure we will continue to pass the time having fun together with only a few bumps along the way. Whatever happens in the next few months, I’m just going to take this time to keep making memories with my family while I have the chance.
