The Stillroom

Mother’s Day was interesting this year.

Little did we know a year ago that it would be our last physical luncheon with family and friends.

Originally, mother’s day in my family was celebrated at my mom’s house for a visit that usually involved card giving, everyone greeting one another with good wishes for the day along with HoHo cake (look it up) made by my mom, along with a cup of coffee. I have four siblings, all with kids that have kids, so it was a crowd jammed onto the porch, at the kitchen table and in the living room.

Somewhere along the way as my mother aged, we started having a luncheon with the women only in the family. My sister has the perfect porch for this so this is where we moved the party to. This gathering included long time friends and close neighbors. It also morphed into a pot luck, which was great. Everyone brought their special dishes and the brunch was always spectacular. My youngest brother called it a hen party. To that I say if this is how hens eat, drink and be merry, I’ll take it smart ass.

Then it all changed. This year, it was no go. Did I fret? Was I sad? Was this the new way to not celebrate? Awwww hell no. I was actually kind of relieved because this year, I did not have to crawl out of bed and immediately make quiche for 16-18 people. It was frickin’ awesome! Did I feel a slight tinge of guilt? lol I don’t think so.

After a pretty easy morning, I made my way to my mom’s, card in hand along with a couple of scripts I had to pick up in addition to a shovel and work gloves. I would rather spread gravel than bake a quiche.

Our gift to mom this year was our time. We visited from a distance, masked up and got to work moving forward with the landscape design we came up with. Their place was pretty wrecked from some sewer replacement work. This is too much for most people even if they aren’t in their 90’s. So, it is our job to smooth it all out, keep them calm and to save them some money. My sister, brothers and my precious brother- in -law (I hate that in- law thing, Gary is a brother) have been working this project a few days out of the week for over a month.

I will take a picture (maybe) when we are finished. It will be lovely for them. Change can be tough. The 40 foot wide deck that my dad built was 45 years old (that was mostly ripped out on the job sight). In my parents’ minds, it was as good as new.

The hillside that had the backhoe work done, in my dad’s mind, wasn’t as steep as it appears to be now. But, the terrain is pretty much the same as before the project dig started. My brother is a geo technical engineer and he knows this to be true. Pa has to be told this this fact several times a day. He is insisting truck loads of fill need to be dumped. If we did that we would essentially be building a new plot of land that would connect their property to the back of St. Joe’s Cemetery.

I think I’m starting a rant. lol

So it looks as if our governor is starting to lift some restrictions on businesses.

Here goes another rant. Well, not a rant but more of a, uh, rant.

My sister -in -law works at the local Walmart bakery. She asked her boss if she can refuse service to anyone not wearing a mask. Her manager said no. She has to serve Walmart consumers no matter what. I am furious over this. Big box stores do not have to make people wear a mask during a pandemic to shop. They have the money to get away with this bullshit. If they made every person wear a mask that entered the store, and turned away the people that had a problem with that rule, they would never lose as much as smaller businesses. My sister in law shows up everyday, risking her health because Walmart will not enforce their mask policy. Yet, they will shut down small mom and pop shops where I think crowd control is much easier to maintain among other things. Quite honestly, I would not want you in my store if you aren’t taking the obvious precautions suggested by fricking scientists. I know people don’t like the word control. No one wants to be controlled. In this case, this needs to be controlled. I won’t risk being around anyone that wants to gamble with my personal well being which could in turn gamble with my parent’s well being.

In the beginning, I got it. It was right to just shut down until science got a handle on what we were dealing with. Now we have safety measures in place to hopefully slow the virus. Even though that is not a guarantee that you won’t get this virus. It might guarantee if you are asymptomatic you won’t give it some someone that may be more vulnerable. If I was still in the work force and was made to work where people could roam around during a pandemic without the protection that could help stop spread the virus, I would flat out quit.

Maybe I would choose to not slaughter meat shoulder to shoulder with co workers until the man in the big house’s kids were made to do the same. The son’s like killing animals anyhow. Maybe I would choose not to sit down with a person wanting a customized birthday cake and not wearing their gear to protect me until I see the first daughter do the same.

For Christ’s sake. What is wrong here? What are non mask wearing people not getting? I guess now that it is in the West Wing it will send a signal that this virus is extremely contagious. Look, I don’t like messing my under eye concealer so I don’t look like a raccoon either. I don’t enjoy getting any makeup on the inside of my mask, but c’mon.

I’m going to go check my lettuce.