For a time during our teenage years, my mum was working three jobs simultaneously and raising two pubescent teenage daughters on her own. She never showed us she was struggling and she never let us go without.
Not only did she buy us tickets to every concert, gig or outing that we wanted to go to, she would do the 'hard yards' with us as well. In 1994 she bought us tickets to 3 consecutive Pearl Jam concerts and camped out at Eastern Creek Raceway overnight so we could get right to the front of stage. She then waited in the car for the concert to finish so she could drive us home.
That's just one of the times she's gone way beyond the call of motherly duty to keep us safe, to keep us happy.
I'm still in awe of her beauty - then and now - of her mind, her cooking skills, her athleticism (she goes to the beach every morning to swim laps and walk on the sand), her work ethic and especially her strength. My mother is one ballsy lady and she commands respect wherever she goes. She can also be REALLY scary when she's angry :)
It was Mummie's Birthday on Thursday, so Barry and I drove over and cooked her breakfast in bed (Barry's famous French toast with maple syrup, cinnamon and ice cream). We handed over her present which, for the first time in years, was not something I bought in a store. I made her 3 CDs with a mix of her favourite songs and songs I knew would touch her soul. She loved it. More than anything I could have bought in a store. I love her for that.
The Birthday email she received from Leonie (who lives in Athens) topped her morning off. My sister has inherited my father's writing ability and writes something amazing for Mummie every year. I always know she's read it when she walks out with a tear in her eye.
Nothing we can ever do, say, buy or create will repay her for what she's given us over the years, but hopefully the lives my sister and I lead today and the women we've become make her a proud mother.
