So BRAVE you left your island home at just 18 and spent 6 weeks on a ship travelling half way across the world to be with a man you had yet to meet. Your first trip away from your Dad was to meet my Dad in Australia.

So RESILIENT you worked away in a sewing factory listening to the girls laugh as you spoke in your native tongue. How you learnt English on the go and daily tasks were really that – a task – as you move your hand in a sprinkling motion hoping the store owner will realise you need salt. The word is just on the tip of your tongue…

So DETERMINED you were a talented master seamstress. No job too complicated. Everyday clothes to bridal wear. Hitching up pant legs and hem lines. Your sewing lessons in your little village back home was in good stead. And what a cook, a baker and a home maker. Sunday roasts, sweets and savouries, the hostess with the most-ess. Dinner parties every weekend. You loved entertaining and food was king!

So ADVENTUROUS you loved to travel. Your bags always packed. Your passport always valid. You loved new places and old faces. Near and far, Queensland, Asia or Scandinavia. Happy in Paris or in Sydney. You appreciated other cultures and loved to meet new people. You made lifelong friends during your travels.

So SAD you lost your own Mum when you were just eleven. You saw your Dad cry on the steps of the church in exasperation ‘what would he do without her’. You never saw your Dad again after you left your island home. Your last image of him was when you were 18 and you vowed you would see him soon. So SAD when you lost my Dad after nearly sixty years of marriage.  You had gone through so much together and he was as equally as resilient, talented and adventurous as you.

So DETERMINED I turned out to be. I wanted to be a mum so badly. I wanted to be like you, to create what you created, to feel that unconditional bond that only a mother and child will feel. I struggled through ten IVF cycles. You prayed for me. You wished it for me. You were with me on my lucky tenth go when I transferred my beautiful Lulu.

So BRAVE I had to be. Starting from scratch after an unsuccessful marriage. With a two year old daughter and not much else. But i had your support, your love, it never wavered. You gave me strength. Setting up a new home and routine for my daughter. Trying to make her transition to our new life as seamless and stress free as possible.

So SAD that you had to carry the burden of cancer for 25 years. Why you, I’ll never know. Playing on your mind, sitting on your shoulders, messing with your head. Pushing though it like a trooper, being strong for everyone else. Until it became stronger than you.

So DETERMINED to keep making you proud, from your heavenly home. I was on top of the world. I jumped out of a plane in your honour and for all woman who have been touched by the monster that is breast cancer.

So ADVENTUROUS our little Lulu. Taking after her Yiayia. Compassionate, loving. A social butterfly. Loves her trips away, loves socialising, loves baking…..