Happy Birthday Mum

1990 - Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Today would have been Mum's 92nd birthday.  It's always easy to remember her age because she was born in the same year as Queen Elizabeth II.  This is Mum's 15th birthday in heaven - fifteen long years without her in my life and it still hurts as much as it did when she died.  Oh, we had our ups and downs, those teenage years when I was just about as ungrateful and rebellious as only a teenager can be, but I've always known unconditional love from my parents and they stood by me no matter what.  When I became a mother myself, our relationship deepened, even though we were oceans apart, and my phone call with my Mum was the highlight of my week, every week.  She was always involved in our lives, following Vic's career, Sophia's childhood, our travels as a military family.  She had been an Army wife for 18 years of my Dad's 26 year career and she'd seen it all and done it all.  She was always an amazing example to me - she was an Army wife in the era when a wife never stepped out of the house without her makeup (and girdle and hose) in place.  No running to the commissary in a jogging suit as I see so often these days.

My memories of Mum involve endless cups of tea, Jaffa cakes, weekends at the beach in Belgium, singing silly songs, playing canasta, cozy open fires, and so many, many more things.

I miss you, Mum.