Mum was our rock, solid and dependable. She was beautiful and smart with a wonderful sense of humour but above all she loved us unconditionally and we loved her as much in return.
Reading poetry was something she had enjoyed all her life, in her early twenties during the Second World War she began a collection of her favourite poems along with her own poems, written over the years in a small notebook. Her poetry reflected her desire to be truly loved, something she found in us her two children. I have copied below a poem she wrote as a present for my birthday on 10/03/1995 called Whitbecks

There is so much love
so much care
The comfort of feeling
that you are there
The lovely old house
tucked in the hill
So rare and so quiet
as your lovely face
My thoughts drifting away
to my one safe place.

It means so much to me now she has gone, and so does this one that I found in an envelope marked 'Jose' with a card on which was written 'Thank you for being the loveliest daughter in all ye world 'xxxxxx. It was like finding treasure.

Just You and I. 31/12/1990

I can write long flowery verses
that afterwards seem trite,
and not exactly right
For we know all that -
Just you and I

Loving the same things
hating cruelty and tied wings,
We're a little bit of each
Just you and I

So when something troubles you
I can feel it thro' and thro'
And when I'm low
You reach and pick me up ...

Its the loveliness in you
always searching and always true
Not meant to live in cages,
You and I

And beyond those far off hills
The last of all 'untils'
We'll be finding it, together
You and I

I think that poem sums up how close we were and still are as I feel she is still with me always