New Traditions

“No, mom,” I say with loving frustration. “You’re covering the-, stop moving the-, Mom!” She won’t stop fidgeting with the webcam I sent her in the mail a few months ago.

             “What? I’m just trying to get the thing to focus,” she replies. Her eyes show she is a little hurt at my outburst.  

             “I know, Mom. I’m sorry I yelled. Just let it be for a minute. It will establish a better connection and become clearer.” I took a deep breath. Nothing has been the same in almost 8 months. I’m in NYU and my parents and two little sisters are home in Colorado. I can’t go home for Thanksgiving, so video chat is all we have. “I just don’t want to do this anymore. I want to come home!” A single tear escaped my eye and I hoped that my picture was blurry enough that Mom didn’t see.

             “Kels, we all wish you could come home,” Dad called from across the room. His deep voice boomed through my laptop speaker. “It’s safer for all of us if you stay there.”

             “I know, I just miss you.”

             “We miss you too, Kelsey.” Mom leaned forward and I assumed she was touching the screen. “Renee and Bailey will be in soon. They are outside playing on the swing set.”

             “Is Aunt Janet and Uncle Mark joining us?” They were staying home too. This was all an effort to stop the spread of the virus. People were dying, and it’s only getting worse. Doomsday nightmares flood my head every waking moment. I haven’t been coping well. What’s the point of staying in college right now, all alone, if there may not be a world left to come back to.

             My family is the most important thing in the world to me, I have not seen them in three months so far and we don’t know when I’ll be able to go home.

             “They will be logging on soon,” Mom answered.

             There was a ding on the screen and then Aunt Janet and Uncle Mark’s smiling faces appeared in their own little box under Mom’s. “Hey Kels!” Uncle Mark cheerfully said. He always looks on the bright side of things and he has no idea how upset I’ve been. “Happy Thanksgiving, kiddo!”

             “Hi guys,” I said with a sad smile. “Happy Thanksgiving.”

             “Hey hon, I know this is hard, but it’s going to be okay. I got some butter noodles here to enjoy with you and we’re all here together.”

             “Yeah, we are.” I wiped yet another escaped tear from my face. “I got my butter noodles here too!” I hold up my bowl. It’s so plain, and yet they’re my favorite. Everyone knows I won’t be having a big Thanksgiving meal in my dorm/apartment, so they all decided to have butter noodles with me. It made me smile just thinking about it.

             Every year I would beg Mom to make them as a side for Thanksgiving and she would always say, “the chef in me just won’t allow it.” She went to culinary school and we always had gourmet food in general, but especially on Thanksgiving.

             “You kill me with those damn noodles!” Mom laughed. “One day you’re going to turn into a noodle. I’m surprised you haven’t died of malnutrition since you’ve been at school, I know that’s all you eat there!” We all laughed and I felt like the ice broke.

             “Kelsey,” Aunt Janet called. “I finally finished the bathroom remodel.”

             “That’s great!” I replied. “What color did you end up going with?”

             “I painted one wall in thick gray and white stripes, and the rest of them are like a lavender color, but a slightly darker. And we ended up choosing the smaller vanity so I could add another shelf in there.”

             “Ooooo,” I said with a mouthful of noodles. “You have to send me pictures, I bet it looks awesome.” My two little sisters showed up in Mom’s screen, “hey guys! Did you have fun outside?”

             “Yeah,” Bailey replied “but it’s really chilly.”

             “No it’s not!” Renee yelled. “I’m going back out,” she started to saunter off, but turned around and said “Hi, Kels, miss you! Love you, bye!”

             I laughed. Renee was seven and had never ending energy. Bailey was eleven and was starting to become “too cool” to play on the swing set.

             We continued to talk about things going on, which isn’t much since no one is working and no one can go anywhere. Everyone has been spending time learning new hobbies. Uncle Mark is learning to knit, Aunt Janet remodeled the bathroom and is ready to paint the rest of the house, Mom is starting to bake (she’s always preferred cooking over baking), and Dad piped in here and there, he mostly plays Xbox, which he’s never done before.

             “Oh!” Aunt Janet chimed. “I found this drinking game we can play, called ‘Do it or Drink.’ I thought it might be fun. I know you all have wine there, I’ll pull the cards and read them for you when it’s your turn.”

             We all agreed to play and took a moment to get glasses of wine. Mom was up first. Aunt Janet pulled the card and read it aloud, “attempt to do the worm or drink.”

             “Oh lord, help me!” Mom cried as she got up from her chair and lay on the floor on her stomach and wiggled while crying with laughter. “I think I got it! Right?” She came back up to the camera, her face red.

             We were all cracking up at her awful attempt, I gave her a thumbs up, “yeah, Mom you did great!”

             We continued the game for about an hour, and surprisingly, I think we all only got a small buzz going.

             I sat back in my chair when the game was over and listened and watched them talk, Bailey and Renee were in the background playing “the floor is lava,” and for the first time in a long time, I thought we might be okay.

             I think I’ll be able to convince mom to make butter noodles for Thanksgiving and I bet this game will be involved every year after.

             We all said our goodbyes a while later, and I curled up in my bed to watch Netflix. Today could have been a lot worse, but I think we managed more than okay.