I didn't read any of the saccharine Mother's Day tributes that clogged social media platforms a couple of weeks ago. I never do, because I find it distasteful to celebrate the presence of a person on one day, given that she spends most of her waking hours thinking about her children. I did call my mother and greet her because that was expected of me, but I call her regularly anyway. I think of her daily, worry about how she is coping with this pandemic on her own, and struggle to contain the annoyance that is also an integral part of every mother-child relationship.

My mother was a housewife for most of her life, for which she was paid nothing. She used to wake up at unearthly hours to prepare breakfast, then clean the apartment, go grocery shopping, and continue with cooking, raising her children, and putting out the hundred minor fires that break out when one is tasked with managing a household.