Last night, I did something rare. I watched television with my parents. We watched “The Bear.”

My parents and I never watch TV together. It was nice. It made me think of the last time I watched anything with my family. It has been a very long time.

The reflection took me back to a time when I did in fact spend my Friday or Saturday nights having movie nights with my siblings and my mom. My dad was usually at work. This was back when I was elementary school and middle school. Before, we all became to cool for one another.

There was a Hollywood Video and a Block Buster near our home. We usually went to the Hollywood Video store. My brothers and I would raid the horror section looking for the newest release or the newest gruesome movie. One my brothers loved B rated horror flicks. He would always choose the worst ones. My eldest brother would pick more recent films. I watched “The Others,” “13 Ghosts,” “Ghost Ship,” and so on. It was fun. The pizza would be ordered, the curtains would be drawn and the lights would be turned off. We all sat together watching the flick. My love of movie nights started from those nights.

At some point, life changed. Video stores were closing down, streaming was taking over, and my siblings were moving on. Being the youngest had its perks but sometimes it meant loneliness for me. I was so use to having my siblings around but they started their lives while I was left behind. So the room that was once filled with my siblings and I was left with just me.

So last night triggered those memories.

At my mom’s home, my dad hogs the TV or my nephew. So either you are watching YouTube videos on Afghanistan or you are watching something a five and a half year old would want to watch.

It is so important to have bonding moments with friends or family. To actually do things instead of just sit around and make small talk. Conversation is great but sometimes there is nothing left to say especially when it comes to family. We tend to spend a lot of time with family. Now when my family gets together, they tend to sit around in living room that does not have the TV. They sit and talk and usually it is some type of gossip that ends up being repeated so many times. I think this was part of the demise of our family dynamic. It was never built back up even when I tried. I tried to bring trivia games but it wouldn’t last long. Now my siblings and I just feel like strangers to one another.

Cheers,

Frshta