“Remoted” – Day 55 Mother's Day (Sunday)

Mom and me, way back when.

Mother’s Day without shopping or lunch or even being in the same room as my Mom was different, but we made it work. Mom was never a fan of the Mother’s Day restaurant scene, and she doesn’t really care for “stuff,” especially after clearing 40 years’ accumulated stuff from the family home to sell and downsize almost four years ago. Normally, Mom and I do something like a weekday lunch and visit antique shops around Mother’s Day, but that wasn’t going to work this year. 

Thursday’s test drive, in addition to making sure the car would start in general, was to make sure it would run specifically for a drive to Mom’s today. Saturday’s kitchen adventure was chicken, potato, and vegetable soup, and broccoli cheddar omelette muffin cups to bring to Mom’s.

When I first moved back from Tennessee and lived with Mom, I would commandeer the kitchen to make soup for us. Not too long ago, she remarked how she missed having another cook in the house. That’s what got me thinking about cooking something to bring over to Mom for Mother’s Day.

After the usual morning coffee and shower, and the unusual cleaning up the bedroom carpeting from Moose being sick (because it’s always on rugs and never on an easier to clean smooth floor) it was time to pack up the cooking, pack up the dogs and hit the road westward.

Moosie was feeling poorly.

Poor Moose was weird and not himself all morning. First he was barfy, then, the dog whose sole purpose for the past ten years has been eating, ignored his breakfast. He lacked his usual energy and spent time laying around the house. There was debate over whether it was better to leave him at home for two to three hours or to take him for the ride to keep an eye on him, while hoping he didn’t get sick in the car. In the end, both dog beds were loaded into the car, both pooches went for the ride, and nobody got sick.

It was a brief, socially distant Mother’s Day. I set the pink paisley bag containing homemade soup, mini omelette muffin cups, and a box of Ritz crackers on the porch and stepped back into the driveway. Mom came to the doorway and we had a brief conversation over the asphalt divide before I headed back to the car, the dogs, and trip back home. It will be nice to meet with Mom at a normal distance and be able to give her a hug, but that’s on the other side of the pandemic. Until then, it’s safety first, distancing, and phone calls.