TERESITA
For @OurIsolatedWorld
Cuarantena con Teresita” - Isolating for seven months at 23 with my 86 year old Spanish Grandmother.
In December of 2020, she fell which broke a prothesis in her knee forcing her to be wheelchair-bound until an operation could be scheduled after Covid-19.
Isolation meant different things for both of us, but reinforced many of the same values we deem important. For her, isolation was mourning her independence, her husband and realising her biggest fear: to be a burden on others. To me, it was mourning the friends I didn’t make, the reunions that got cancelled and realising that the 22 year old who entered the 1st lock-down would be entirely different to the 24 year old leaving it.
Yet, both us understood that only in this situation would a 23 year old get this much uninterrupted time with her 86 year old grandmother.
Over the several months, I got to learn about her life more deeply, her ambitions and dreams that either did or didn’t come true, and in turn I got to share my experiences growing up in a world that looked very different to hers.
These photographs reflect her resilience, which is also seen in most women, of continuing to take care of others and get things done no matter what.
She talked about the slight envy she has that I am able to pursue an education, have autonomy over my body and reproductive system, speak my mind, and choose when or if to be married. Choices she, as a young woman, did not have.
So here’s the advice she gave me as we said goodbye:
“Remember: do everything you can to become independent. Learn, make money, and make friends, and most importantly — never depend on a man.”
