Ask Amy: Prospective mom worries about long-distance help
Dear A: It is safe to assume that yes your mother’s mental health has been affected by the pandemic.
It can be hard to think of others when you are looking toward your own joys and challenges, but one of the biggest lifts of motherhood is how it can expand your compassion and patience toward others. Let this happen to you.
You should arrange all of your childcare needs to the best of your ability in advance, assuming that the pandemic might interrupt your mother’s best-laid plans to be with you. In the meantime, if she is distressed or grouchy, you should understand her very real worries about herself, about you, and about other relatives and friends she has at home.
According to news reports, India is currently in a state of flux. Some areas seem to be opening, others are locking down, and virus variants are popping up, as the population awaits vaccine distribution.
Do your very best to support your mother’s efforts to travel to be with you but understand that – depending on the course of the pandemic, or other factors at home – it might not be possible.
Trust that this prospective grandmother will turn over heaven and earth to be with you as soon as she is able.
Dear Amy: I am a 62-year-old man who recently ended an 11-year relationship with my live-in partner.
Just prior to the pandemic, I brought my frail mother to live with us.
The stresses of this 24/7 care, coupled with COVID and my partner working from home were more than our relationship could bear.
As it is her home, she recently asked me to leave and I reluctantly placed my mother in a nursing home. I’m happy to say that she’s doing quite well there.
...continued
