My family unit of four was on the stricter side when it came to COVID- 19 precautions. We had decided not to attend most group1. We had2about the health risks posed by this new virus, especially as we waited for our kids to be vaccinated.
My parents came up from Texas in December 2020 to quarantine (隔离期) before seeing us and3to visit us occasionally after that. We tried to visit them too but got4twice—first when the virus Delta made the trip
too 5, then when my grandma and my older son separately were6with Omicron.
Finally, in February 2022, we got there. It had been more than two years once my kids had seen my grandparents, and my younger son did not7being on a plane. We met my parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins in Colorado. There, my kids8her baby cousin. I9my kids as they swam, watched fireworks, generally10with their older cousins. They were so11with everyone, despite how infrequently we had gotten together over the past few years.
Several times, I looked over at my kids playing with my relatives, their relatives, forming their own 12 , and felt something that I rarely feel about being with other people: longing, the 13for more of this.
As COVID- 19 is not over, we are still trying to keep our 14limited. But with our younger son finally 15we are cracking open the door, just a little, to be with the people we love.
