Joints for Jabs - A Pandemic Story about My Mom, Part 2

This is Part TWO of Joints for Jabs. If you have not read Part ONE, click here.

My mom told me this story the day after it happened. I could in her voice that she was giddy and excited about what she wanted to tell me. She’s a pretty animated storyteller so it was nice to hear her so happy. She was beside herself laughing.

Here’s what happened on 4/20/21:

There were actually more parts to this story. Linda’s first day out continued with walking to Washington Square Park where she was stopped for another unrelated interview. It seemed like everyone needed to hear from her that day after not hearing from her for so long. She literally saw butterflies in both parks that day.

And now, months later with everything gearing up again with the Delta variant, my mom describes being more at peace with spending so much time in her apartment. She says she will be wearing her turbans and caftans inside until it’s safe to emerge again. Her pandemic adventure continues.

Until she is allowed to come to Tasmania and stay with me…

Joints for Jabs - A Pandemic Story about My Mom, Part 1

It’s hard to put this experience into words. My mom’s pandemic experience… my experience being separated from her for almost twenty months now… When I moved from NYC to Tasmania, I was under the impression that I would be back and forth frequently. Once my mom retired, she spent months at a time here. Australia’s borders are still closed and parents are not considered immediate family under the exemptions. 

This was never the plan. It of course was never anyone’s plan, but here we are. In many ways, we are extremely fortunate. We are lucky to be healthy, and lucky to be in the positions we are in. The luck of me living in Tasmania for all of this is a completely different story.

This story is part one of Joints for Jabs, a pandemic story about my mom.

Part two coming soon…