It’s a dilemma. How do we celebrate Mother’s Day during a lockdown? The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things. Given that it was snowing around here yesterday (not to be blamed on the virus), even May doesn’t seem very cooperative this year. On Friday night I made an emergency trip to Target for essentials. One of my ulterior motives was to purchase a Mother’s Day card for my wife. Given the lack of social distancing at the card rack, I wasn’t the only one who had this in mind. The remainder of the store had shelves of daily necessities picked clean. How to celebrate moms during a pandemic? I guess by trying to stay alive.
Those of us far from childhood homes can’t visit our mothers. Even if we could we couldn’t take them out for dinner. If we send flowers we can’t send gloves to protect their fingers—the stores are out of those. If we send flowers to plant we have to send plastic to cover them too, having had four nights with freeze warnings in a row. Talking to my Mom yesterday she recollected the year that it snowed on Memorial Day. I shouldn’t complain. Mom would rather I didn’t.
Perhaps the best we can do for Mother’s Day is to start treating all women better. One commemorative day a year doesn’t make up for a lifetime of second-class citizenship. Our mothers are the reason all of us are here. Isn’t that reason enough to see we’re all part of a single family? Women put up with a lot to take care of us. Even so we deny them an amendment granting them equal rights. Politicians are saying “Happy Mother’s Day” even as they continue to withhold basic human rights from women. We could celebrate Mother’s Day by putting our sentiments into action, transforming daily life into equal pay and equal protections.
There’s a pandemic outside. There’s some snow out there too. But there’s a warmth inside and for that we have our mothers to thank. If we really mean it when we send our mothers cards and flowers, if we really mean it when we call, if we really mean it when we give her a hug, we’ll show it by our actions every other day of the year. We need to be sincere when we say it, or don’t say it at all. Happy Mother’s Day!
