There’s No Such Thing As Social Distancing When You’re A Mother

Inspirational Wisdom for Mothers, Women, Women Entrepreneurs

It was a secret operation. We told no one. I had a hunch – female intuition – and it was going to be followed. The three men in my life couldn’t tell me anything different. It was happening even if I had to go alone. It was a mother thing like in the movie Steel Magnolias.

Leaving at 5 a.m., with a car brimming with groceries, water bottles, paper towels, and more totaling $400, my husband and I drove in the beautiful light of dawn down quiet roads to the Big Apple. Italy’s news had spooked me. I knew it was a matter of time before a lockdown in NYC might happen and where my two sons work – one in a hospital. I needed to see them, hug them, give them food, chat for a short time, in order to not see them for an unforeseen period of time. I wasn’t scared to go down since our plan was only to walk into their apartments, around their neighborhood if we could, and nowhere else.

I am definitely more of a risk-taker than my husband – or maybe it is the difference between mothers and fathers. The boys were part of my everyday life as a home-based woman entrepreneur and mother for over twenty years while my husband was a diligent corporate guy. The boys had been part of my body birthing them and their hearts beat in unison with mine and there is no changing that fact. Without them, there isn’t me.

Yesterday marked two weeks from our secret visit. I have self-isolated myself just in case we carried anything back, but we were so careful I knew we would be fine. Our families knew we wouldn’t see them until we were past the two-week mark. Again my intuition spoke to me that we were free of the virus but now two weeks later I know it for sure. If we catch the Coronavirus now it will be because it spread to Central New York, not because we hugged our boys. There is no such thing as 6’ social distancing when you’re a mother.

I share my personal story on my blog today because my world is not just about business, marketing, and management, it’s always been about being a good mother and friend to my two sons, no matter how old they get, to remind them they are the most important part of my life today and always. I’d go to New York again in a heartbeat if they needed me. As Shelby said in Steel Magnolias as she prepares to die after giving birth to her son, “I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.”