‘The gift of time’: N.S. mother and son’s lunch tradition lasts through chemo, pandemic

A son’s gift of time to his mom has resulted in 100 lunch dates – and counting.

Nine Christmases ago, Ed MacDonald decided to give his mom Georgina a gift that keeps giving: monthly lunch dates.

“Part of my Christmas gift from my son was this little lunchbox, and in the lunchbox was a note saying, ‘Lunch for life.’ So, I look forward to this,” says Georgina.

Since the 2017 holiday, they’ve enjoyed more than 100 lunches out together.

“I don’t even know how this occurred to me but, I decided I wanted to make sure that I started seeing her more regularly,” says Ed.

He calls himself a “typical guy,” noting he can be bad at keeping in touch with people.

“It’s easy for time to slip by, especially when you’re busy working and then all of a sudden you realize that it’s been a couple of months since we’ve seen each other, so I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen anymore,” he says.

In 2018, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer and even then, they didn’t miss their lunches together.

“Time with your kids is always important, I mean, no matter what you’re doing,” says Georgina.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic they also managed to make their lunch dates work.

“We had one lunch where Ed showed up in a parking lot with a six-foot table, and then he went across the street and bought Chinese food and that was one of our COVID lunches,” says Georgina.

Ed lost his dad a while back, and he says that sort of thing never goes away.

“It’s easy for time to slip by, you know, as I age, I become increasingly aware of that, and I enjoy spending time with my mum,” he says.

“For young people out there who don’t know what to get, we’re old. Like, I’m old. So, I have everything, it’s hard to find something to give your parents,” says Georgina. “Give them the gift of time.”

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Mike Lamb

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