I decided to wait to see the impact of my design and take note in changes as days went on, if it began to lose its purpose due to the overflowing worries that are beginning to burden our brains more than the glories or happy thoughts we all tried to rehash by creating our “Humor Boards”. To be honest, my family has been struggling a lot with this time as our loved ones have been experiencing real pain and stress from the repercussions of COVID-19. Our small town has lost individuals to COVID-19 that were stand out personalities that could change the atmosphere in any room, but simply could not beat the disease. Leaving behind families, friends, and children that could not mourn properly. On top of this, the Coyle’s are all extroverts who, like many, live to talk to strangers, tell stories, hug, plan ahead, and share life. It was the other day when my sister, a senior in high school right now, got notified that not only was her prom, graduation and final season of track was cancelled, but her future coach at William and Mary University sent a bold email out that explained that he believed a fall semester may not take place. Granted, this may not be true, but it then hit me that this simply is a scary time to be facing “The Great Unknown”.
“The Great Unknown” is an idea that has always stuck with me. When questioning what is “the Great Unknown”, ideas pop up like who will I marry, what job will I get, will I have kids, will they be awesome? Never could I imagine to ask, what will I do in a shelter in place for a global pandemic? Boom, a grand example of what the Great Unknown truly brings to the table, unpredictability. The unknown is the territory of our own specific lives in which we least want to explore, whether that be through conscious choice or subconscious force. We want to avoid it because it scares the crap out of us and leave us questioning everything we think we know about the world and our own selves- it is a red-light blinking over our most underdeveloped qualities. It also can be our greatest teacher.
I started to realize that each of my family members putting together a board that held 20 funny stories, qualities, quotes of one another does not seem like a product or design that has lasting impact on a day. This project design made me think of the quote, “Souls tend to go back to who feels most like home”. My family sees me in my most raw form. My disgusting “rolled out of bed” morning looks to my hormonal stages of being a teenager, and everything in between too now. They are my backbone in my great unknowns and this chapter in our lives, although very scary, has been a design project in and of itself on how human beings face uncertainty. My families ability to just take time to write about each-other was in and of itself the most flawed flawless design. Us all together sitting in a kitchen in different spots, laughing to ourselves, peeking over each others shoulders, that alone I could write an essay on. That is something we have never done before. We absolutely ripped on one another, wrote stories we swore we never would “tell mom and dad” and some lectures have brewed since the creation of our “humor boards”. But, the design does not end at the board. It made me recognize the design of my family. My families ability to laugh and smile, step outside when the sun cracks through the clouds, and to simply understand our blessings in each day has become the ultimate catalyst in our survival of Quarantine. Our ability to stuff our faces with as much food as possible, to yell embarrassing things in the other room while we know our Dad is on a Work zoom, or our little sister is talking to her boyfriend on zoom. To simply find good music to blast throughout the house or open every window to make inside as enjoyable as outside. To fully understand that when it comes to extreme measures, family is always constant. Each of us together through creativity and humor have accomplished the simple things.
My design taught me that it isn’t about writing a book, getting the best revenge body post quarantine, or redoing every room in the house to get inspired. It’s always the people that surround you at the end of the day, no matter what that taught you where inspiration begins, with love. It is about texting those I love and sending them something to make them laugh or call and tell a funny story to ease this pain. This time is very painful too many for a multitude of reasons. Although it is easy to say we all are in the same boat, we are not. Some families are at shipwreck, others have hit rock bottom, some may not even have a boat to rest on. The entire world is scared. Family is core and I am so blessed to have my days decorated with different personalities that allow myself to look forward to knowing I can dive into any great unknown with them as my backbone and continue to use laughter as my daily dose of medicine through this time.
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