The Young Witch Bonds...From a Safe Social Distance

My best friend, Liz, started to text me last Thursday. She had just watched "Muppet's Treasure Island" for the first time ever. Also known, as my favorite Muppet film ever. Also the best Muppet Film ever (in my humble opinion). She did not agree, and called me. This turned into an hour and a half conversation about Muppets and her graduate school classes, and our lives and our next attempt to try and actually see each other in person, because my best friend lives in Ohio.

See that vampire and pioneer? That there is Liz and I blowing up balloons for a reason I cannot remember

Through phone calls, texts and FaceTimes, we've been able to keep our friendship going, even when we each going through our own struggles. Our connection just keeps getting stronger.

Two days later, my parents called me because our church had asked my dad to give an update on my family and how we are doing. Considering I usually do the calling, I was concerned it was about the ouija board I'd been trying to say would be a grand idea to have around the house (I might be Christian, but I'm also a witch. Sue me).

After about an hour of conversation concerning plays, Shakespeare, "Aerin, you made a spelling mistake on your last blog," "thank you, Donald Gene," dying and cutting of hair, our usual discussion of what the President has done now, too much information that children never want to hear from their parents, information you don't want to hear your BABY sister talk about and what not, I walked out of the room, looked at my roommate and said the following.

"My family is weird and gross."

In that moment, I truly embodied the spirit of Sam the Eagle (I love The Muppet Show, give me a break).

You see my family is not "normal." "Normal" families don't have causal conversations about Shakespeare and history and the "homoerotic subtext" at dinner and amusement parks (you think I'm kidding). "Normal" families don't buy jo staffs, bows and arrows, kamas, sticks, bokens, and other weapons for birthdays and Christmas and at yard sales because their daughters wanted to learn how to use them. "Normal" families don't make Comic Cons a large family outing and sit through panels learning about new tv shows, movies, writing and cosplay, while in costumes. "Normal" families don't look at a piece of clothing, go "We can

Don't we look normal? It's LIES

make that," go home, then bring out fabric and 10 minutes whip up their own version of said clothing.

They don't typically leave bookstores with multiple boxes of used books and DVDs. They don't typically send their kids to Shakespeare camp (but they should). They don't typically visit places because they a) saw it on Tumblr, b) read it in a book or c) saw a movie, did research on the movie, found where the movie was shot, realize that the place is a working coffee shop, plan to go to the said coffee shop and make your family look like weird tourists in the coffee shop.

Too specific? Well, that's my family and as weird and crazy as they are, I wouldn't have them any other way because then they would have sent me to the insane asylum a long time ago.

But just like with Liz, it's hard to stay connected. I live multiple states and time zones away and connection is hard to feel sometimes being so far away (especially when they go get Strange Donuts without me) and with COVID-19 it makes it harder.

I can't really go home because they live in a hot spot and I live in a hot spot, so it's kind of dangerous. However, we have been able to keep the connection going. How you ask?

FAMILY FACETIME!

That's right folks! My parents actually began to set up a weekly FaceTime, not just with me, but also with my aunt and my grandparents, because they are bored, bored, bored, bored, bored.

And it's nice. It's really nice to have this and to be able to connect with everyone even being so far apart. Connection was on my mind a lot this week. It seemed to be everywhere. My work, my conversations, my social media feeds, and after awhile, it seems like the universe it trying to give you a sign. Thanks, universe!

Connection is an essential part of human nature. We crave it, we want it and we need it to survive. With social distancing, that connection seems hard to attain, especially over great distances. We're lucky to live in a time though where we get to have multiple way of connecting over technology. We don't have to travel great distances. It's not an essential part of connection anymore. So go and connect with your loved ones. Go talk with your friends. All you need is a phone.

I miss my humans