Getting together during the COVID-19 pandemic presented problems for many families. It wasn’t difficult for us, because we couldn’t have been together, anyway. I had a lovely chat with son John $pencer. I couldn’t find a recent photo of him to post here. He cuts his own hair, so he probably didn’t look as shaggy as the rest of us who rely on currently non-working professionals to do the job.

Daughter Kate texted early, and we saw her sign in to watch our church’s video of today’s service. I knew people were asked to send in short clips of themselves with Mother’s Day greetings, but I was totally surprised when she appeared. The series was shown just before the service began. This afternoon I downloaded one frame to include here. She was standing before running water, so she must have gone to the center of her town in New Jersey to record it. This was certainly the most novel greeting I’ve had in my 139 years of collective mothering.

Later in the day, daughter Lise phoned from Denmark. She continued talking as she used two phones and a mirror to send me her self-portrait. You couldn’t be more immediate than that across the ocean. She said Kate contacted her and $ about the video for church, but they were unable to do it. It makes me smile to think they were conspiring behind my back to send special greetings today.

I hope all mothers I know were able to be with their children in some way this Mother’s Day.