Gratitude...

My Mum has exquisite taste. In her house there are always posies of pretty flowers picked from her garden on the mantle. She always has piles of magazines just haphazardly left in whicker baskets, soft throws draped just so. It always looks elegant, homely, stylish. It was the same in her mother's house. Always something interesting and quirky to see...

I so love my Mum. Its not Mother's Day or anything...but sometimes there is a need for an unprompted show of mother-love. I realise I am blessed to have such a good relationship with her. I can honestly say she is amongst my absolute best of friends. We see each other every couple of days, she is my right-hand-(wo)man with my children. I could not be the mother I am without my mother.

Whilst we are very close, we are not demonstrably so. But she means so much to me, every day I am thankful for her, even if I don't show it enough. The grace with which she raised my brother and I, on her own, in circumstances that were far from easy, is awe-inspiring. She is and has always been the strongest woman I know. She can make everything alright. She can tell just from the first words I utter on the telephone if I am OK or not.

Even if I propose something that is slightly unhinged - she still supports me, knowing that I will work my way through it, if its right or if its wrong. She has that uncanny mother quality, that now, even though I am 36 years old, its still as if I were a child.

Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her daughter...