Peta Credlin: The inexplicable pain of Mother’s Day during COVID-19

For so many of us, this Mother’s Day will be harder than usual. Not only can we not see those mums still with us, we also can’t properly grieve those who are gone, writes Peta Credlin.

For many of us, me included, this is a Mother’s Day when, for our mothers’ safety, we might have to be absent rather than present.

Not being able to get close to the ones we love has been just about the most difficult aspect of this corona crisis, and the hardest to bear.

Over the past fortnight, I have lost a dear friend to a very aggressive cancer while another close friend lost her beautiful 16-year-old son to suicide.

Not being able to do what you would normally do to comfort people in this age of distancing has been incredibly hard. For my friend with cancer, it meant so many us only being with her remotely in her final weeks and given she was single and had no children, it was heartbreaking.

No-one should die with limited contact with people that love them, then the indignity of an online funeral. I understand the rules, we obeyed them to the letter, but it doesn’t mean we had to like them.

For many of us, me included, this is a Mother’s Day when, for our mothers’ safety, we might have to be absent rather than present. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

Much much harder for my friend who on Sunday, on Mother’s Day, remains unable to bury her son due to very heavy restrictions in Victoria that even after the PM’s announcements on Friday have not changed. By now, I hope Premier Daniel Andrews has had a rethink so we can honour our dead, and support the living in their grief because in all of this, we cannot underestimate the mental health toll that isolation and limited human contact has had.

As Professor Ian Hickie warned last week, the death toll from the mental health consequences of this virus could end up being four-times greater than the virus itself if we don’t take action. On Mother’s Day, while I remember my Mum, I always think of those who have lost their mother, mother’s that have lost their children and those who wanted to be but were never able to be Mums at all.

Originally published as Peta Credlin: The inexplicable pain of Mother’s Day during COVID-19