The second pandemic Mother's Day Today's best articles Daily business briefing Solving COVID newsletter It has been over a year since I've seen my mom. She was the last person I visited before the pandemic began, during that strange period in early March when things still felt more thrilling and theoretical than actually scary, and when the man wearing a mask beside me on the plane home to New York drew askance looks from other passengers of " overkill, much?" Half-joking, I asked my mom before I left if she would fly out to take care of me if I caught the coronavirus. Her response, though, wasn't half-joking: "Of course."