So by now my mother has been to visit and returned home to Belfast again. I love my mum to bits, but boy is she tiring. The woman is amazing. Despite knee surgery three weeks ago, she is a one woman shopping dynamo and nothing stops her. I’ve always had trouble keeping up with her, but with the way my health is at the minute it’s ten times worse than usual.
Mum was always a typical ‘mum’. She cooked, cleaned and provided a taxi service to all the usual childhood clubs and classes. When my sister and I took up dance classes, we discovered how far behind Northern Ireland was when it came to culture. The only way to buy ballet shoes was to draw around your foot, then write your name on it and mail it to Freed of London. They would figure out your size and send you back a pair of shoes. Mum wasn’t having this and immediately set about opening a shop to cater to the dancewear market. That was 20 years ago, and though there are now other shops, her shop is still the top place for dance costumes and accessories in Northern Ireland.
Like many women, my mother is a woman of many contradictions. She is tiny and feminine, yet I get the feeling she could successfully manage an army with just one raised eyebrow. Many men I know are terrified of her even though at 4’9 and a half (that half is very important peeps), she’s hardly of an intimidating stature, in fact I think she falls under the legal definition of a little person.
My mum is a nurse, and she’s been through many various nursing incarnations. As long as I can remember, she was a night duty nurse on an ENT ward. A few years back, she decided to go back to Uni, completing both a diploma and a degree, which meant she could convert to children’s nursing. She spent a few years on the Children’s ENT ward, before accepting a post as a nurse in a special school.
I think I can safely say that Mum found her niche. She is amazingly dedicated, even going as far as visiting her young charges when they are hospitalised. She’s always in school early, and often leaves after the teachers.
Like many mothers, she does take a lot of interest in her children’s lives and those of you who know me, will have heard me complain about the amount of daily phone calls I get from her (upt to 7 or more a day at times!). My sister is totally different, she only answers the phone when she feels like it. This means that I regularly get calls asking me what my sister is up to, despite the fact that my sis lives 25 minutes away and I never see her.
However, much as I can be annoyed at times, I know that my mother is unique. Not only is she amazingly generous, but she’s surprisingly open-minded as parents go. How many other children can say that they’ve gone shopping for a transvestite or a lap dancer...with their mother? Or that their mother was the one to invite a boyfriend to stay over? The best bit, well I think it’s the best bit, is that my mum even watches porn. Ok, the soft focus cheesy crap that used to be on channel 5 after 11, but still, you have to admit. I have the coolest mum in the world!
Awww. That's sweet.
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