As we edge closer to hopefully what will be the end of lockdown in June, Lorraine Kelly has reflected on the one thing she's been deprived of over the past year – family moments.
Like so many of us, the TV presenter has been forced to be apart from her loved ones including her parents. Read about how she celebrated her dad's milestone 80th birthday this week in her exclusive HELLO! column below.
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One of the hardest things about being in lockdown is missing so many lovely family occasions and milestones. Birthdays and anniversaries are vitally important and it's been tough for all of us not to be able to celebrate properly.
My dad turned eighty this week and normally that would have been a big excuse for a huge party. He's been extremely ill recently, and although not out of the woods yet, he's doing much better.
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So it would have been an almighty celebration with family and friends to mark his health improving and such a big birthday. There would have been lots of food, drinks, music and dancing and SO many jokes from my aunties and cousins about the fire brigade being on standby because of all those candles on the cake!
Lorraine Kelly's parents (pictured previously) celebrated her dad's birthday at home with a special tea
Instead my dad marked the occasion with my mum in their flat. She cooked him a special tea and of course we all sent presents and did a Zoom call, but it wasn't the same.
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Mum celebrates her 80th in September and hopefully things will be very different by then, and we can arrange a joint celebration for both of them. Meanwhile, like so many of us, I won't get to see my Mum on Sunday for Mother's Day.
The TV star hasn't seen her parents since last summer
That's going to be very hard, but we have to remember that not all of us will be able to celebrate our mums even from a distance on Sunday, and my sincere sympathies for those of you who have lost your beloved mothers. I can't imagine how difficult that must be anyway, but especially on Mother's Day.
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I've sent my mum presents and flowers but that's not the same as being with her. I've actually not seen my parents in person since last July when restrictions were briefly lifted and we were allowed to travel back to Scotland.
We talk a lot and my mum sees me on TV every weekday which she says helps her not to miss me as much, but I can't wait to get back home for a plate of my her famous homemade chicken soup and a slice of mum's renowned lemon and meringue pie.
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