Today marks a month since we locked down here in Madrid, it is also my birthday but I think my mother deserves all the credit when it comes to the anniversary of my birth.
Seriously, mothers carry us for nine months before anyone ever says, "Congratulations," Its a boy or a girl and I think we miss out on everything parents do for us when it comes to bringing us into the world.
It might be too soon to say congratulations in the first trimester as not every child is carried to term but as people predict an explosion of births after this quarantined Lockdown, and families bury loves ones that they lost, maybe just maybe we should focus our attention to the people who actually do their jobs and take care of us.
Coronavirus has correctly re-shifted our focus from Stockbrokers and Investment Bankers to Bin men and delivery drivers, and the hospital staff who deliver little lives and help extend older ones.
39 years ago, I was born but I wasn't born in a vacuum, I was carried for none months and delivered by nurses and doctors and a machine that goes Bing.
I guess what I am saying is, "It takes a village to raise a child."
I was taken care of by my parents and when my Spanish students can’t remember the English word for Padres (Fathers/parents), I remind them that they Pay Rent.
Our parents do more than just pay rent and bring us to school and cook and clean and take care of us, they are also our first teachers and I believe we say “Mother tongue” to describe our native language because your mother is usually your first teacher when you learn to say “Daddy.”
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me but please take a moment to think, how little a part we play in our numeric celebration, and the very big part parents, midwives, nurses and doctors play in making a birth day special.
I had hoped to avoid being one the Lockdown Voices as there are so many people whose stories I would like to share but this Lockdown Voice is dedicated to my mother and your mother and your father and my father and those who make these celebrations possible.
Last week at 8 pm as I was buying some food in a fruteria (Fruit N Veg), I got to see, hear and feel the magnificent appreciation of people clapping from their balconies for the doctors and nurses risking their lives on the frontlines.
Walking through an empty street where it seems like everyone is applauding you is a nice feeling but let’s take Covid-19 as a reminder that we are not the centre of the universe and our success has been shaped by those who held our hands, cleaned our bums and told her mothers to push.
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