Mum - Birthday Memoriam

You would have been 81 today. The very thought of it is mind boggling. You never wanted to live into your seventies, you or Dad, you both had the idea that 70 was ancient and decrepit. I think perhaps if you were still here you might have changed that opinion. Age is not what it once was and as I look at Jon's parents and the likes of Anne and Alec back home in Knock It seems like normality. Maybe it's also because I am 40 now too, I like to think I am still only half way through my life. 

I'll be thinking of you today, as I do so often, remembering all the best of you, the incredible giggle when watching or listening to comedy like Victoria Wood, Billy Connolly and I'm sorry I haven't a clue, the immaculate natural nails and the red lipstick, the smell of Chanel no.5, the incredible ability to cook anything and cook it well that i am thankful you passed on to me and something I use on a daily basis, the wit and sarcasm, generosity and kindness. To you I raise a strong coffee.