UC student and her family keep it upbeat and creative in the midst of COVID-19

Abby Holliday, a senior studying social work at UC, got things going. She was fretting about Ohio's stay-at-home-order and wondered what she could do to stave off boredom. She would self-quarantine in the family’s Milford home with her mother and father, three siblings and grandmother, who moved in only a few weeks before.

“I love to write music, and I feel like there are so many song opportunities to explain everything that is going on,” said Abby. “The day before we made the video, I grabbed my guitar and pulled out a pen and started working on a song. I got some help from my siblings of things to include.

“My brother loves to make videos, so I was like ‘what if we made a music video,’” she said. “That is how it happened. It came together with the song done in one day, and we did the video the next day. It was pretty quick.”

Holliday with guitar in hand offers a nod to hand sanitizer in the opening clip before crooning about running out of toilet paper while her mom and dad prepare with beer and ice cream.  Images of the family’s lovely home abound as Holliday frets about weight gain since the gym, like all non-essential services, is shuttered.

“Losing my mind because I’ve got to be inside, but I will be just fine with you,” sings Holliday, as the camera pans to her mom, grandmother and siblings enjoying the game Codenames. “So let’s play games like Codenames and talk about the fact there is no more school.”

The video is just under four minutes, and more than half way through Dr. Michael Holliday, associate professor of family medicine at UC and physician at University Health Services, joins his daughter playing drums to her vocals.

The video appeared on Instagram March 18 and already has almost 12,000 views and another 30,000 or so on Facebook.  Abby figured people would like the video, designed and directed by her brother Luke Holliday, but the response was still a bit of a surprise. Her sister Grace, a UC first-year student, mother Holly, sister Rachel, and grandmother Brenda Hardin, also made appearances.

“I am not used to that kind of response coming out of our living room,” said Dr. Holliday. “But as Abby said, it does make sense because it was very relevant. We literally had a captive audience.”

Her mother, Holly, a registered nurse at University Health Services, tagged the owners of Codenames, a card game designed by Czech Games, on Instagram and a few more fans were created.

“They reached out to me after seeing the video,” said Abby.  “They were like, ‘we want to send you a package.’”

So earlier this week, the Holliday family got four more games to pass the time away.  “One of them was like a different version of Codenames along with three other games they created,” said Abby Holliday. “It was so sweet.”

Featured image at top: Abby Holliday shown in her family's music video. Photo courtesy of Abby Holliday.