THE PRECIOUS GIFT YOU CAN GIVE YOUR MUM
My mum turned 75 recently and I thought long and hard about what to get her.
Nothing felt right. She didn’t need anything and the coronavirus stamped out any possibility of buying her an “experience” such as a wine tour or Gold Class cinema vouchers.
In the end, I wrote her a long letter on beautiful paper and posted it well before her birthday.
With everything else in chaos, I wanted her to have something meaningful – even if it meant using hand sanitiser before she opened it!
In essence, I told her what she meant to me, how her kindness and generosity had been a guiding force in my life and how grateful I was that she enjoyed such closeness with my daughters.
My mum is a special needs teacher so she’s worked with families struggling all through her life. It’s given her a particular empathy and ability to be buoyant no matter what the challenges.
Right now, she’s at home, but in typical style she’s playing competitive games of backgammon with my stepdad and doing the fitness videos my daughter sent her via Messenger. We’re also sending each other lots of memes.
As for my letter, I know she keeps it in the drawer next to her bed along with all the others I’ve written her over the years. If we can’t be together or hug each other, at least she’s in no doubt about how precious she is to me.