Me Mam

Mothers Day in the UK

Had a meandering day driving up North with Mum, catching up over tea with little sister Kate and niece Anna (Anna arrived 8 years ago on mothers day) and Beth.

In between being entertained we sat silently reading, ipading, computing, with bursts of conversation weaving in and out. She told me a story of Stephanie, my sister, who died before I was born. She told me she hadn't been baptised so was buried in unconsecrated ground, with no headstone or memorial, (I was driving at the time she told me and the windscreen wipers didn't move the moisture in front of my eyes), she told me not a day had passed since then she hadn't thought of Stephanie. I used to as a young boy wonder about Stephanie the sister I never knew, Iike children do in that situation I guess, knowing instinctively or maybe through experience that asking about her was too painful for mum. This story though 57 years since Stephanie died and these details told to me for the first time today, still too painful, but somehow healing in a small way in the telling and sharing.

Our lives are coloured by what we have and what we've lost, but I think shaped by how we're loved and how we love.

and when it comes to how she loves her kids, my mum is a legend.

Happy Mothers Day Mam