The effect of lockdown on one's mental health is intensified at times you would usually share with family and loved ones. I commiserated celebrated the beginning of the final year of my fifties on Friday but the usual family gathering was prevented due to lockdown rules in Scotland as a result of the Covid pandemic.
These technological times, however, meant I did get WhatsApp messages from my three of my five grandchildren (the youngest two still being a wee bit young for that sort of thing) and these highlighted it isn't just me who is getting older.
Jack, who will be 16 in a couple of months and, therefore, a young man sent me a typically polite 'Hope you have a good day' message.
Hannah, who will be 14 going on 24 in August, said 'Happy birthday Papapapapapapa' which is probably her way of showing a sense of humour. She does have a tendency to burst into a fit of the giggles for no apparent reason although this may be because I make her laugh without realising it aka extracting the Michael...
It was left to 10-year-old Ava to display the unconditional love which used to be a trademark of her older sister and brother by saying 'Happy birthday to the best Papa on Earth - miss you loads'. This brought a wee tear to my glass eye and underlined how much I miss them all, not having seen them since early November. I like to think Jack and Hannah share their wee sister's sentiments but they are now at the age when showing affection to one's elderly relatives may be deemed distinctly 'uncool'...
It was left to their mother to send me the above collage of my children and grandchildren which cleverly includes a headshot of my father who passed away in 1997. He would have been immensely proud of them all and I like to think he is looking down on all of us. It's a tragedy he never lived to see any of his great-grandchildren but he loved his granddaughters and I know Laura and Michaela still think of him. As I do every day.
Jack, Ava and Laura all have their own birthdays in May (that month costs me a bloody fortune) and I will see them then to join the celebrations - no matter what Scotland's First Minister says at that time. Covid cases in Scotland are falling as are hospital and ICU admissions whilst vaccines are rising in their thousands every day.
We need hope that we will be able to see our loved ones again very soon. Even rapidly ageing old gits like me...
