Eid-Al-Fitr is a holiday where Muslims mark the end of the month of Ramadan. It’s supposed to be filled with payers, happiness, and lots of food. Every Eid, my family usually has lots of food made, relatives all around our house, and in my opinion, way too much noise. New-found aunties coming to you from every which way, and annoying little cousins that bother you to no end. But this year, it was different. No aunties, crowded rooms, noise, or even cousins. Covid-19 was out of control in the United States, and health experts/the news had warned people against gathering in large groups. We were going to have to celebrate Eid, unlike all the other previous years.
My dad is a very hard man. By hard, I mean that you don’t want to get into any problem with him. He is very strict, and adamant about what he wants, likes, and dislikes about people’s views on certain ideas. He is always very blunt with people, (which can be embarrassing,) and doesn’t take disrespectfulness from anybody. Even with all of these traits, he is also funny and carefree at times. My 3 sisters’ Mariama, Chenti, Disagya, and I, are always bickering. We fight over the pettiest stuff, but almost always agree on subjects that involve our parents and us. I would call what I have between my sisters and me, a love-hate relationship. My mother is very hardworking and always makes sure that my sisters and I do our responsibilities, in the house.
She is also a very outgoing person who loves to interact with family, friends, and relatives.
Because of this, my sisters and I knew that my mother was a little down when we could not spend time with relatives on Eid. On Eid day, I recalled coming downstairs and seeing my mom sitting on the couch on her phone. I sat down next to her as I looked at her attire. She was dressed up in her native wear, and even applied some makeup on, which was a surprise because she rarely does it. Chenti comes from downstairs and sits next to me. She raises her eyebrows at me as if to ask, “What’s she wearing?” I shrug my shoulders in response. Chenti and I were both wearing our usual t-shirt and jeans, and knowing my mom, I knew that she was going to say something about that. She turned around and looked us up and down. At that time, Mariama and Disagya had come from upstairs and were sitting on the opposite couch. My mom turned around and looked all of us up and down in distaste. My sisters’ and I shared a look: we knew what was coming. “What are you all wearing?” she asked as she stared at our attire. “What do you mean?” Disagya asked as she tried to act nonchalant. We all knew what my mother was talking about. We just wanted to act as if we didn’t. She gave us a hard look and said, “You know what I’m talking about. Go put on something nice.” “But-” started Chenti.
”Go.” she says with a stern voice. We sigh and get up to go change. When my mom wants something, my sisters and I should do it immediately or we’re in for the heat. She was already annoyed that she had spent all morning cooking food without any help from my sisters and me. The least we could do was listen to what she was telling us to do. (Even if there was no point in doing it.)
A few hours later, my mom gathered all of us to the dining table. She had set up all the food and made everything all nice. “Wow,” I said as gazed at the table in awe. In all honesty, I was confused about why she had done all of this since there wasn’t anybody coming to our house to celebrate. It just kind of seemed over the top. I didn’t say it though, but I knew one of my sisters’ was. “There isn’t anyone coming.” said Disagya as she gestured at the set-up table, “What was the point of all of this?” I whip my head around to glare at her.
“You should appreciate whatever your mother wastes her time doing for all of you. It doesn’t matter if no one is coming to our house. We could still have a nice meal.” my dad says as he stares at Disagya sternly. We all pull out our chairs and sit down at the table. As I bite down on a piece of chicken, I can’t help but wonder how much more fun this would be if we had our relatives over. “This is crazy,” my mother says as she puts down her fork, “Because of this sickness that’s going around, we can’t even spend time with family.”
Mariama hummed in agreement through her mouthful of rice, “I know. I never thought that we’d have to celebrate Eid like this.” I grimaced at the sight. My sister usually has no manners when she eats. It did kind of feel empty, come to think of it. It was usually way more hype than what was happening right now. “I hope that we don’t have to do this for next Eid, because that would be sad,” my dad says as he looks at all of us. “Yeah” I reply, “I hope not.” And I meant it because I was longing for all the noise, people, and even random aunties.
“This is kind of lame,” I say after a while.
“That’s funny because you’re the one who usually says that you hate people coming over on Eid,” Chenti says sarcastically as she looks at me. I glare at her and roll my eyes. “Yeah, but the atmosphere is usually more hype on Eid. Now it’s just dead.”
“No, seriously,” Mariama says as she pushes her empty plate away. “It’s usually so much more fun.” I glanced at my mom and could tell that she was getting a little annoyed by what we had just said. “Well, we’re still with family, and that’s all that matters,” she says as she looks at all of us. I push my food around my plate, earning disapproving looks from my mom. Disagya nudged me, and gave me a look that read, “stop.” I dropped my fork on my plate and sat back in my chair. “It doesn’t matter how we celebrate Eid,” my dad starts to say, “We should be thankful that God even let us wake up today. Whether we celebrate Eid with relatives, friends, or just your family, we all have to value what we have, even though we want something else.”
I thought about what he said. I’ve always taken spending time with relatives for granted. All I ever thought about that time was myself and didn’t realize that all the people who had ever come to my house on holidays, always had good intentions. Now my family and I weren’t able to celebrate a holiday that was very important to us, with the people that we loved. All that happened made me realize that I should enjoy spending time with relatives, and value whatever I have in front of me because that privilege can be taken away from you in an instant.
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