Dear Mum, Just so you know this is not ok. We do not agree with you leaving nor do we condone it. But then again we didn’t always do as we were told either did we? But you let us live our lives. You taught us to form our own opinions make our own decisions. You taught us strength and independence as only a great Mother would. You told us we could do anything no matter what it was and we could achieve anything we wanted if we really wanted it. You always supported us and encouraged us to follow our dreams even if it meant taking us far away from you. But you knew that no matter how far away we were, it was always Mum. You were the rock in the family, the strength, the mediator. The one we all came to for advice. And you would listen, really listen to our “problems” but you would never let us dwell. Your positivity, down to earth nature and sense of humor wouldn’t allow it. I will miss your smile and your laughter. I will miss our long talks that would go on until the early hours of the morning. And I’ll miss not being able to share news with you. I’ll even miss you taking ages to say goodbye on the phone…”alright love, bye for now love, bye dear, bye love, see you soon, take care, love you, bye, bye love, bye dear, bye…bye… bye… bye….” You could never just say “goodbye”. Well, now I can’t say goodbye, so I won’t. Instead, I’ll just have faith that you are still here in some way, that you’ll always be around and that I can talk to you any time I want. And I will listen. I hear you laugh and say “that’ll be a first”, but you know that whenever I needed guidance, I always came to you and everything would be right again. Love you Mum and see you soon… Mandy and Tina