Celebrating Mother's Day During a Pandemic

During any other time we would have been up in Iowa visiting my mother-in-law for Mother's Day, especially in light of the fact that she just lost her husband a few weeks ago. However, COVID-19 has made travel impossible for us, so we didn't dare even drive to our son and daughter-in-law's home in Virginia. My husband wanted to do something special with me though, so I selected a few locations in downtown Charlotte for us to visit and photograph. I knew we would be able to keep social distancing in play, and the pretty weather was just what we needed to explore our new city.

We began at Midtown Park as it was reputed to have great views of the downtown area, as well as a small reflective ball similar to the "Bean" in Chicago. We very much enjoyed the park with its proximity to a major greenway which we want to return and explore later. The view of the city was okay, and the ball was certainly nowhere near the "Bean" in terms of interest.

Midtown Park

From there we stopped at Elizabeth Park, which is also located on the Little Sugar Creek Greenway, to see the statue of Captain James Jack. He was a Patriot leader in the Rebellion in 1775. Historic St. Mary's Chapel is located across the street in Thompson Park.

Elizabeth and Thompson Parks

Next we headed to Nebel's Alley in Charlotte's South End neighborhood. We were not in search of shopping or a place to eat however. We were looking for the Confetti Hearts Wall mural, which is located in the alley. It seemed very appropriate on Mother's Day to have our picture taken in front of the wall. In this day and age of the virus, you don't dare offer to take a photo of someone using their camera or telephone. But a complete stranger offered to take our picture using her phone, indicating she would then text to me. Social distancing at its finest! It epitomized the "Be Kind" heart on the wall between us in the picture. We were able to return the favor by taking a photo of her family as well. By the time we got done chatting with them it was time to head home to grab lunch prior to our 2:00 video call with mom at the nursing home.

Nebel Alley

Our kids were able to join us on the call with Lorraine, and it went well. She seems to understand the seriousness of the virus and why we can't yet come to see her. It is so hard to see her on a call and know that she cannot safely even leave her room right now. She has to be very lonely without Jerry.

We spent a little time enjoying our lake view before grilling up some filets that were given to us by a neighbor who doesn't eat beef. The icing on the cake, so to speak, was a new recipe I tried combining brownies on the bottom and chocolate chip cookies on the top. They are called brookies, apparently. I would just call them delicious!

Mother's Day meal