To Mum.

When I was little there was this beautiful creature who loved me.

She was warm and patient and comfortable.

She had a voice that could lull me to sleep and an embrace such that,

When encompassed within that lovely fortress not even the worst Nightmare could penetrate.

I remember thinking that this was not only the most beautiful woman on the planet,

But the kindest, and the most knowledgeable, my private angel

My mum,

And the pride that would swell in my heart when I looked at her would be so strong

That I wished that I could be just like her, and be with her forever.

I was a difficult teenager, as all teenagers are and I wasn’t so close to my mum then,

I fought the cocoon of her embrace the loving safety net she had woven around me

And in my desperation for independence I am ashamed to admit I often fought her.

But she was still there for me, and I marvel now at the ability to release me as gently as she did,

Not hurling me away for my lack of gratitude but gently encouraging me out onto the turbulent waters of life with a smile of understanding.

As I moved into adulthood she was always there in the background,

Always supporting, understanding, tolerant.

And I made mistakes, married one of them! She stood by me and my decisions,

And when I was again alone she reassured me that it would not always be so.

It was my mum who was there when I cried in frustration that things never went right for me, It was my mum who picked up the pieces every time I fell apart,

just as she had picked me up as a child when I fell in the mud.

She became my best friend.

Now we are friends, and equals,

we are both women who have experienced life, love, husbands and yes children,

but she is still my best friend, my closest confident, my safe harbour when the storms of life come to call and yes, she is still the most wonderful woman in the world to me.

My Mum.

Keara