Love, in the time of corona, has to keep its distance but on a Mother’s Day like no other many Irish people managed to make the best of a terrible situation by celebrating their mammies in ways which would have been unimaginable and intolerable four weeks ago.
Presents and treats were deposited outside houses and parents waved at from a safe distance and from behind tightly rolled up car windows.
Technology was deployed like never before, poems were written and DIY floral arrangements were made with flowers which had only just started peeking their heads above ground at the end of a cold, dark winter.
People appeared willing to keep their distance from their loved ones, acutely conscious that while the decisions they were taking were tough, they were also vital.
"I know my daughter, son, son in law and grandchildren love me," Rosemary Arthurs told The Irish Times." I need nothing but a virtual hug and to survive. That would be the best mother's day present ever."
The strange and frightening times the world is living through has changed the emphasis for many people, among them Siobhán O’Donoghue. “It’s funny, I never really do much for Mother’s Day. I think it is another commercial ploy,” she said.
Her parents are alive and live close to her. This year her children “spent the last five hours making cards and we will be baking for them. Leaving items on doorsteps with lots of love.”
Sinead Phelan and her family had a picnic with a difference planned. "My parents will drive out to us and have a picnic in their car while we sit in our bay window and do the same. We're connecting by phone. The kids are so excited. Simple things, tough times."
Noelia Ruiz’s mother is high risk and she lives in Barcelona. “I can’t possibly go there for this day. We WhatsApp everyday. She’s now joined me in doing online yoga in the living room.”
Molly Twomey wrote her mother a poem in which she thanked her for helping her become the person she was.
Christine Quinlan sent an online invite to her mother and four sisters in law "to a virtual drinks party - we're going to have a G&T each and do a group call. I am already excited. Not sure what to wear though."
Over the last week Aisling Twomey said she had been sending things home from London to Cork every few days "so my mom knows I think about her all the time. None of them have arrived yet- but they will. I can't fly home to her, but I can send her small things."
And, of course, Mother's Day can be a two-way street as writer Stefanie Preissner discovered.
She is in self-isolation awaiting the results of a coronavirus test so obviously was not in a position to travel to see her mother.
So her mother came to her. “She drove from Cork to have lunch at my window,” she said.
