Family abroad

 Having a member of your close family abroad is not an easy situation for anyone. It makes everything different: you do not see them anymore whenever you feel like, you can only talk to them with a mobile phone, you cannot hug them… In my case, my older sister has been living in the USA for two years with her husband. 

Watching your older sister move out of your life in such a short period of time is something that I had to process. Since I was born, she has been my role model. I have always looked up to her, yet, I guess at some point she had to grow out and I had to forcibly change into being the only daughter in my house and having to have a lot of alone time at home. Looking at the bright side of things, I got my cat so that I wouldn’t feel so lonely at home.

My sister met her husband five years ago. Just as she met him, she would obviously talk to him non-stop, phone him three times per day, and hang out with him some days. Something had already changed; I had to understand she couldn’t be with me at all times or pay as much attention as I wanted her to. Her husband is a wonderful person; I get along with him and he treats her well, a really important point. In addition to this, we always go on vacation in the summer and the three years they were dating, the three years he went with us to many different places. I consider myself to be a really observant person and, when he proposed to her, I saw her grow as a person. Until this day, I cannot put my finger on the feeling I got, less explained how I felt. After a year of preparing for her wedding, they got married. Nonetheless, they wouldn’t live long here in Murcia since my sister had got chosen for a scholarship a third-year teacher in the university, in my same degree, offered. 

My sister is currently living in Morgantown, West Virginia. Throughout the pandemic, she stayed there as she didn’t know if she would be able to go back to her workplace and she decided not to risk her job and the master the scholarship included. Before the world was shut down, we went to visit her in December of 2019. We visited her village, then we went to New Orleans, visiting many incredible places, afterward, we were off to Washington, where we stayed for some days as well, and we finally got to New York, where we stayed our last days of the trip. We truly enjoyed those holidays as a family.

In conclusion, not having your older sister around anymore as she has begun to live her own life is something that I had to assimilate. Nonetheless, I have to keep living and adapt to whatever happens.