Today I saw my mum. She’s looking after my sister and nephews who unfortunately have covid. She was outside the flat waiting for me so we could transfer the items I had gathered to give to my sister. As she flagged me down, I noticed that she looked strong and healthy.
My mum. Always strong and healthy. That’s how I always imagine her to be because that’s all I’ve only ever really seen her to be.
If you know my mum, you’ll know she is a bit of a handy woman. When we were younger, one of her many projects was to take an old piece of wood and attach it to the balcony wall with a couple of hinges to create a flap that could be lifted when it rained and so keep the balcony and its contents dry. One rainy evening we were looking at her project in action, she explained that in the same way the wood was protecting everything in the balcony, she is a mother who will always protect her children.
Another thing she said to me while we were talking about my older sister moving out with her boyfriend was that she was fine with that decision because she could always come back home if things didn’t work out.
Why were these words so profound to me?
At the time, as a teenager, I never really thought about how important my mum’s presence was in our lives because that was just a given. She’s our mum. But these things made me realise that she is our constant. She is our foundation. We can wonder and experience life but in the end we can always return to her because she will always protect us.
