Mother's Day With My New Roommates

Mother’s Day, like most days this year, is going to feel different. Hopefully many of us will be able to celebrate the day, despite being in a moderated way, with our family and loved ones - whether it be virtual or with limited face-to-face time. We’ve invited Sue who’s 65 and Mum to one of Modibodi’s own, to get her perspective on the upcoming celebrations and how lock-down has turned life upside down in an unexpected but delightful way.    

“I live alone and have put my job in aged care on hold due to my kids nagging me to self-isolate – apparently I’m ‘high risk’ and ‘old’, so I was not looking forward to being isolated during the lockdown.

It was a lovely surprise to be invited to go and live with my daughter, her partner and their dog in their inner-city home. They have enough space so we are not on top of each other, it’s been about 5 weeks now and we haven’t had any arguments or fights, I try to keep out of their way while they work from home. Cleaning and cooking is my ‘rent’, not enforced by them but I think they appreciate it. 

To give them alone time and so I don’t feel like I am intruding, I arrive on Monday laden with my bags filled with clothes, different cleaning products that they don’t seem to have, a new jigsaw (I have been doing one per week! It’s become an obsessive habit but it’s better than watching TV or scrolling on my phone) and some books and then depart on Friday afternoon back to my apartment (only 20 minutes away).

Having been widowed and living alone the last 5 years it has been wonderful to have the company. Cooking dinners for more than one is a joy, discussing the news, sharing an evening wine or even if we just watch TV together – it’s been a lovely change. I did recently discover that if you start watching a TV series together, you must continue watching together. I did not know this, and I finished Mindhunter without my housemates who were appalled and disappointed that I had done such a thing, I now know for next time.

So on Mother’s Day this year I am thankful that I will be able to spend the day with my new housemates, with the laws easing up in NSW Australia we will hopefully be able to invite my son and his wife over for a meal. They have a gorgeous little boy that I haven’t been able to see since lockdown. I have been sending him letters (did you know stamps cost $1.10 these days!?) and Facetime-ing him, but he is only two and doesn’t quite understand. 

For me, it will be a very special Mother’s Day in these unprecedented times.”

Whether you’re celebrating your mum, dad, aunty, grandmother, sister, partner, kids, or simply just a friend who means something special to you this year, we hope you make time to stay connected.

We acknowledge that Mother’s Day can be tough for some, and not everyone is as lucky as Sue to be surrounded by family. If you’re experiencing loneliness during isolation, please, reach out to someone you know to talk – and if you know there’s someone doing it tough, pick up the phone.