Mum

The current need to isolate and spend time at home has made me think of my wonderful Mum. If she’d found herself in this situation (while still in good health)I have no doubt that she would have had the whole house decorated, made a few patch work quilts for babies cots, some rag dolls and written a few children’s stories.

If you ask any of her grandchildren one of the things they will tell you is how much fun she was, and how creative. She could conjure up a circus, a post office, a library, a theatre, pretty much anything out of an old shoe box and a couple of empty loo rolls. Her imagination, energy and enthusiasm were boundless, not to mention her frequent supply of treats to eat while creating.

Ben was very blessed to be able to spend a huge amount of time with his Grandma, and their relationship was beautiful to see, Grandad was usually there in the background responding with reasonable good grace to the constant “Tony, just find me...Tony just get us...”

My Mum was a one woman army and I’m sad to say I didn’t appreciate her anywhere near as much as I should have when I was younger; she was in her own quiet way impossible to live up to. However, now I become more and more aware of how much I learnt from her, my house will never (ever) be clean enough to live up to her standards but I’m a pretty decent cook and I’ve definitely inherited her creative genes to some degree. I wish she was still here for many reasons, but at this time she’d have been so amazing at making the best of things. Mum, thanks for all you did, and sorry I didn’t tell you nearly often enough how much I loved you and how proud I was (am) to be your daughter.