Mother’s Day this year fell right at the beginning of lockdown, which unfortunately in this house caught the men-folk rather off guard; they had been planning on a last-minute dash into town the day before to get cards and a gift, but Covid put paid to that. The ensuing panic and tears from the children and the arguments between them and my husband over them actually making their own cards were so ridiculous that I ended up taking the executive decision to postpone the whole thing until the following week.
Now here we are almost exactly three months later, just starting to take our first small steps back into the world, and Father’s Day is upon us. I’m confident that Father’s Day will not go the same way, although I did have the usual minor panic a few days ago that I had focussed so much on my own father, step-father and father-in-law that I had completely neglected to organise anything for my husband.
I could of course theoretically have run out to the shops to get something now, as a lot of them did open again on Monday, but I quite like this new slower way of living that we have mostly settled into over the past 90 days. It does mean that we have to be a little more organised, and accept that we maybe can’t have that thing that we really want right this minute right now, but when you really sit back and look at it, most of the best things in life are worth the wait, and actually it doesn’t matter if it takes a few extra days for things to get to us. I’m not for a minute saying the last few weeks have been a nice kind of holiday, but stepping off the wheel and just slowing down a bit has been quite nice, and I don’t personally intend to get back on it.
In the early days of this national lockdown, there was suddenly such a lot of support for small independent makers and businesses – it was so lovely to see, and I hope we all keep it up now the worst of the pandemic is hopefully behind us. Less mass-produced fast fashion and homewares and more slow-living pieces made with care and designed to last. What a nice legacy that would be after a really shockingly horrible time. I have been putting my money where my mouth is and shopping small – it does help that I work with so many fabulous small brands, and often they are the first people to shout about other small brands who you might not otherwise have come across. So this year the three elder father-figures in my life will have a selection of handkerchiefs from Helen Chatterton, chocolates from Coco Chocolatier, shaving accessories from Norse and cards by the wonderful Rocket 68. And as for my husband, both a father and a step-father – well there is an outside chance that he will read this, so he’ll just have to wait until Sunday and see!
Alex xx