Paige Hassen: JRN

A few nights ago was the last episode of the series of Modern Family. 11 years this show was on television. I was seven years old when the first episode aired, and my brother was nine. We all sat in the living room of my old house to watch it together as a family for the first time. Little did we know that we would be doing the same thing 11 years later with the last episode.

I am now 18, and my brother is now 20. I mean, we grew up with this show. My family grew up with this show. It really was a good, wholehearted family show, and it means a lot to me. I think it was one of the first, if not the first, shows that my family really watched together, and I never really expected it to have this big of an impact on me. It’s really made the look back, think, and enjoy the memories that came along with it.

When I look at my life right now, there have been so many things that have happened to me throughout the time span of the show. From first grade to senior year, I mean… that’s a significant amount of time. I have grown up from a child to a legal adult during this show. Plus, who would have thought we would be living through history right now? Who would have thought that we would be living through a pandemic and on a stay-at-home order right now? Honestly, it was just really nice that my family still has shows that we can all watch together at the ages we are with the things that are going on in our lives.

My brother is back from college and working while doing online school, my mom is working from home, and I am somewhat doing online school. We all have different things going on throughout the day and all have different interests, yet we still had the time to sit in the living room and watch Modern Family together.

With the COVID-19 pandemic going on, it was nice to have just two hours of sanity. Just two hours to bring me back down to earth and clear my mind of all the horrors going on outside. It was nice being with my family, like really being with them, for the first time in what felt like years. With my brother being in college and moving out in May, and with me going to college in August, tonight was probably one of the last memorable moments we’ll have together as a family while all living under the same roof.

It might sound weird, but being on the stay-at-home order has made me appreciate being able to spend the little amount of time together with my immediate family that I have left.