Social Distancing Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all the mothers out there. I called my mom soon after getting home from work this morning. She's in good spirits, but this social distancing is leading her, like all of us, to a bit of cabin fever. She was unable to travel to anybody's home for Easter, and being a good grandmother, she hasn't been able to buy birthday presents for various grandchildren, though everybody has told her that birthdays are basically on hold until the madness abates.

These days, mom is occupying her time with a lot of reading (she's always been a voracious reader) and long walks on a wooded trail in her neighborhood. Regular calls from family help her cope as well. Mom is a tough gal, she was born shortly before the US got involved in WW2, so she's used to austerity, and can readily find sustenance even on largely denuded supermarket shelves ("Hey, a jar of pickled beets, SCORE!!!) She's a gregarious woman, and though she can't meet with friends for lunch, she does get in 'social distance' conversations with neighbors who now suddenly find themselves at home as well. In a couple of weeks, one of my nephews will be spending a few days with her, since he has to travel back to college to pick up the personal belongings he left in his dorm room after classes were suspended shortly after Spring Break, so she will have an opportunity to spoil him rotten.

I hope some semblance of normalcy returns by July, so I can road-trip down to her place for her birthday- I sure hope birthdays aren't still suspended. I call her a couple of times a week, but I usually visit her for a couple of days in the Spring, before things typically get busy at work.

Anyway, I hope that everyone had as good of a Mothers' Day as is possible... I guess that a decent brunch can be cobbled together from pantry staples. I'm partial to pickled beets, myself- just like mom.