Ireland

Idaho to Bray: Irish family reunite after Covid-imposed exile

‘We have done Zoom calls ... but nothing compares to seeing each other in person’

Family values: Members of the reunited Hughes family at home in Bray, Co Wicklow. From left: Mike, Michael, Róisín, Rosaleen and David.

Olivia Kelleher
Thu Dec 23 2021 - 16:14

Facetime chats and Zoom quizzes helped to keep the Hughes family from Co Wicklow together when forced apart by the Covid-19 pandemic, but there is no substitute for the real thing.

Michael and Rosaleen Hughes were celebrating on Thursday as their son Mike and his family flew in from Idaho in the US for the first time in three years.

Thefamily is together in full for the first time in years with Mike’s sister, Róisín, having arrived from Chicago recently and their brother, David, returning from Frankfurt. Sisters Elaine and Claire live in Bray and Nenagh.

Mike’s “epic journey” started in Idaho Falls and he went via Salt Lake City and Chicago before reaching the family home in Bray at 9am on Thursday.

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Weary but delighted, Mike said it was lovely to have all of his family under the same roof as the pandemic had kept them apart for so long.

“We have been travelling since our time Tuesday afternoon so . . . am really, really happy to be home.”

Delighted and excited

Mike and his wife, Allyson, have had after their booster shots while his children Michael (10) and Keelin (12) are also vaccinated. He said his parents are delighted to have their 10 grandchildren in the same spot for the first time.

“It is the longest I have been out of the country. We have done Zoom calls and game activities online . . . to keep it close. Obviously, nothing compares to seeing each other in person,” he said.

“My parents normally travel to America once or twice a year to both my sister Róisín and I. But obviously they haven’t taken that journey in a couple of years either . . . one of the grandchildren was born during Covid in Chicago .

“My mum loves babies to bits. Not to be able to get her hands on her granddaughter has been terrible. Sophie was born last August. Róisín and her wife, Kris, actually came back for a quick trip after she was born. That is how desperate my Mom was to see her . . . they are back a second time now.”

Mike and his recently returned siblings are staying with their parents in Bray. The family will reunite in full again for Christmas day. He said the journey was a great adventure for his children and that it is heartwarming to see how easily the cousins mix despite having met so rarely.

“My children haven’t seen their cousins in three years, but they walked in this morning to a full Irish breakfast and they are all chat. They are all best of friends; it always amazes me how close the cousins are.”

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