A Quiet Home by Hannah Lopez
It has only “snowed” twice in my lifetime. By “snowed,” it was very, very light & I vaguely remember it. The last week, 2/14/21-2/20/21, has definitely been a week to remember.
I dreaded Valentine’s this year, as it would be my first “single” one in the last 3 years. (yes, I was in a very quiet, low key, off and on, semi-long weird relationship that many did not know about, as I’m not one to put my business out there.) But as I dreaded it, and also just recovering from having COVID, I was trying to find joy in the occasion. I cooked myself a nice dinner, made chocolate covered strawberries (ate them all), and watched rom-coms by myself. It was very therapeutic, and I needed that self-care.
Little did anyone know that it would snow later that evening, leading into a week full of chaos and panic upon many.
The snow was so beautiful as it came falling from the sky. I was so excited, and I jumped out of bed and began taking pics to show my family. The next morning, my entire department called into work, so I ended up staying home too. It was a lovely day off, and I got to drink my coffee and just enjoy watching the snow fall from my bedroom windows. Beautiful sight to see!!
Later on, most of my immediate family began getting affected by this unexpected weather, and their homes lost power & water. My heart went out most to my grandparents, as they don’t have very good legs and they hurt easily when the temperature drops. I was very saddened at the thought of them being cold in their house with no heat and no water. I offered my home to them, but my grandparents wanted to be in the comfort of their own home when all was restored (we didn’t think it was going to take several days). While I prayed for my family to be safe and warm, I also extended the same invitation to everyone to come over, as I had not lost my power nor water. While my parents declined the offer, due to their pets, my younger brothers gladly accepted and were here Monday evening.
My favorite part of the story – my journey in:
Finding Joy during Snowpocalypse-2021.
Brandon & Jacob arrived on Monday and stayed with me till Saturday. This is the most time I have been able to spend with them in the last four-and-a-half years, since I moved out of my parents house after high school. Brandon & Jacob are not the talkers out of us four siblings. (Chris isn’t part of his story because he’s at his second home in Corpus Christi; but if you’re reading this, I miss you dearly Pop Pops and wish you were here with us this past week.)
Anyways, they’re not chatter boxes whatsoever. But they love to laugh during movies, love video games, love my cats, and if you pick the right topic to discuss, they’re super smart, knowledgeable, and can really start talking. So when I say we had quality time, it truly was just time spent together laughing at whatever movie we were watching and being able to just hangout.
I was able to stay home with them Wednesday & Thursday, and we had tons of fun. I stayed up way past my usual bed time. We had plenty of snacks. Watched movies. Played in the snow. I cooked more meals than I had ever cooked before, had to make sure my boys were well-fed while they were staying with me and tried to make them as comfy as possible here. Point of the story, we had a blast.
Today is Saturday, and my parents’ power turned back on as of yesterday; but the boys stayed with me another night. I got home today not feeling so well, just very tired from work & still have not regained my energy 100% from COVID; so I think I just ran around work a little too much for the day. (HEB and the mad house it has been this week is a story for another time.) I thought that they would want to go back home as soon as I got off; but they ended up asking if we can grab Whataburger, so I said, “sure why not some fast food after all these home cooked meals.” It was not fast food. We waited forever to find a Whataburger that didn’t have an hour-long line and one that would have French fries. An hour later, we got home with our food and watched a movie before the boys were going to take off. Towards the end of the movie, I began feeling sad because I knew it was almost time for them to leave, and I didn’t want our time together to come to an end.
After the movie, I ended up finding them upstairs playing air hockey, and I asked if we could play some Rock Band before they took off. We played for a good while and that brought back childhood memories, and we were able to laugh some more while the boys roasted each other on who’s singing was worse to the old throwback songs. We probably could’ve kept playing all night and completed the whole game but I have to be up in a few hours for work.
Our sibling bonding time had, sadly, come to an end, and it was time for us to part ways. (At least for a few days till Mom offers me some dinner at their house or something.) As the boys drove off and I came back in and locked up, I looked down the hallway of my house, and I saw an empty & quiet home once again. I drank my glass of water before bed and couldn’t get over how silent it was. My brothers are crazy night owls, so the last several nights, I have been hearing them laugh nonstop in the living room, making pizza at 1am, washing dishes at 5am, and watching movies at 6am. (I don’t know how they do it.) But within a matter of minutes, it just returned to such tranquility.
As I’m laying here, I can’t quite sleep. I miss them already, and I can’t get over what an unexpected week it turned out to be.
I typically enjoy being alone, living alone, doing things alone. But tonight I find myself realizing that having them here filled a void that I didn’t quite know I had. It’s a bittersweet and not fully describable feeling.
For me, It was much more than just a week of snow & mayhem across Texas. I opened my eyes to a lot of realizations. I got to spend the best quality time with two of my brothers. I was able to experience snow as an adult… & I found Joy in the midst of such chaos.
“to my brothers: you are the bestest friends I was born to have.“
FindJoy 