How Distance Strengthens Us
The strongest bond that cannot easily be torn apart is the family bond
My oldest brother already has his own family, and I am the second among us three siblings while my little sister which a year younger than me has a disability. Let's just call her Ann, she has been deaf since birth, which explains why she is unable to communicate properly. Ann and I were inseparable when we were younger, and even though we couldn't communicate properly verbally, we found a way to communicate with each other through hand signs. As naive children, I often suggest one specific game, we used to play pretending we were at school. I pretend to be her teacher, and I recall teaching her how to say simple words such as "mama" (though we address our mother as "nanay") since I thought that she was still a baby and couldn't speak properly.
Our family's main source of income is our retailing store, which is operated by both of my parents and keeps them extremely busy throughout the day. My sister and I are both very mischievous, and because Ann and I are so far apart in age from our eldest brother, Ann and I prefer to play in the street with the other kids in our neighborhood. An accident occurred when I was seven years old and Ann was six years old. She was hit by a tricycle while running down the street in front of our house, thankfully, the vehicle was moving slowly, and my sister just manage to acquire only just a scratch. But it didn't end there, our parents agreed to put my youngest sister Ann in the care of a single aunt in a distant area. I'm starting to go to daycare back then so I have no choice but to stay here at our place while my sister is taking care to live somewhere else. Every vacation, we get a chance to bound by taking me to our grandmother's house, where our aunt, who looks after my sister, also lives. But this stops when I was in fourth grade, however, my parents decided to just let me help to the store after school and during summer vacation.
My older brother moved to my grandmother's house a few years later as he was in college, leaving me alone at home with our parents. Well, it is a good thing since he was able to look after our Ann there. As we grow older, we each go through phases and changes in life, I form my own circle of friends here, and she does the same there. We only see each other at my family gatherings because my parents only visit her on occasion to meet her needs and give her and my aunt an allowance. On rare occasions, I invite her to go shopping or to a restaurant to catch up on things we've missed over the years. Of course, I thought to myself at the time that we were so close as sisters, but I soon realized that I knew nothing about her, what her favorite foods, or what are her hobbies, and she was the same on me. Of course, the fact that we were sisters will never change, but there is a certain amount of awkwardness on some occasions.
My father brought Ann home to our place when the pandemic outbreak to save money since they couldn't support her there anymore, from the start to the pandemic all became restricted even a visit, our store also experience a drop in net income. The best part is that my sister, Ann, and I are home under the same roof after a decade apart. She threw a lot of tantrums and had mood swings at first, which we believe was due to homesickness. She can't express it verbally, but we understand some of her rages, sometimes she can't help but be irritated by our parents, she's always asking for a hearing aid but sadly we couldn't afford to buy one for now. She already has before but it's long gone now. I couldn't help but argue with her, especially when she was throwing tantrums, and I couldn't help but be annoyed by her behavior. I always lose my temper whenever she is rude.
At the very least, those fights allowed us to learn more about ourselves, and we now have a better understanding of the things that irritate us. It's also normal for us to have disagreements. However, apart from her condition, I now have a better understanding of her behavior. After a year, Ann was finally able to make her adjustment to our way of life here, the homesickness she felt before gradually faded, and despite her circumstances, she knows how to assist us with housework and here in our family business.
Disclaimer: I am neither a psychologist nor a financial advisor, and all of my pieces were done for entertainment purposes only. What I've written here is merely my personal opinion, and any statements made are based on my personal views and should not be taken as fact. Always do your due diligence.
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Distances actually makes the heart grow fonder. You tend to miss people more when they are far away from you.