What is a Mother?

What is a mother? A mother is the only person throughout your life who will ever love you unconditionally. Whatever you do your mother will forgive you, she will overlook many of your faults, but she will correct the ones that really matter. She will believe in you even when you have lost belief in yourself. When you don't think you have the strength to go on she will lift your feet and place them one in front of the other. The thing is, all that time when your mother is helping you battle your demons and make your way in the world she is hiding her own battles so that you won't worry. She is anxiously wondering if she is making the right decisions for you and she is wishing that her mother was here to help and advise her.

The first I remember of my Mum is waking up in my pram and she was bending over me smiling and then she gently sat me up so I could see all around me. From that day I remember her always being there.

I always remember my Mum smiling - smiling, hugging and singing. As a child I used to help her with chores and we would always sing as we worked. I learned so many lovely songs from my Mum. She would take me by the hand to help me on escalators, slippy paths, and to explore glens searching for fairies. My Mum was great at searching for fairies. She played and laughed with me throughout my childhood and my childhood was the best there could be.

As I grew older and lost a lot of confidence, as teenagers do, my Mum was there patiently and gently explaining to me that I could do or be anything I put my mind to. When I decided to go to Canada for a holiday everyone was amazed and said "Are you sure you're okay travelling on your own?" and even I wasn't convinced I was. My Mum told them "Of course she is. She will be fine!" By the day I left she had convinced me I would be and, of course, I was.

When I became a mother myself that was one of the scariest moments I remember. I was suddenly responsible for a whole new life and terrified I'd be rubbish at it. My mother had no such qualms. She was there whenever I needed support and quietly stepped back when I didn't.

My Mum did that my whole life. whenever I needed her she was there, she knew the right thing to do and the right thing to say. And on those occasions when I really messed up she was there to pick up the pieces, tell me it wasn't as bad as I thought, had she ever told me about the time she messed up big time by doing such and such, and, she put the pieces back together again. And, once I was whole again, she stepped back and left me to try again believing in me, that I would get it right next time. She was always there.

Then, suddenly, one day she wasn't. I hadn't messed up, I wasn't about to try something new, but I really, really needed her but she had become far too tired to help any more so she had to rest, God saw that too so he took her to be with him.

I still really need her now. I need her advice, I need her to make me laugh when I'm being ridiculous, I need her to tell me when I'm being unreasonable and need to back down, I need her to say when I've actually got it right and that she is proud of me. And, most of all, next time I mess up big time I need her to help me pick up the pieces and put them together again. Because, if your Mum's not there to do that, then who else will be?