There are no words to adequately convey my pain and sorrow at losing my dearest mother. I hope however that in part, I can explain how much she meant to me and what a truly remarkable woman she was. Mum was not just the best mother anyone could ever wish for; she was my best and most loyal friend; my wisest mentor; and my kindred spirit. In my 50th Birthday journal earlier this year, Mum wrote “You cannot imagine how much joy and happiness you have given me over the last 50 years, that’s 18,250 wonderful days”. On that day, I could easily have written exactly the same message to her. Well I have had 18,518 days of feeling totally and completely surrounded by her love and this will continue on, for all of my life. We always knew that Mum put us 1st, put our needs above all other, supported us no matter what we did, right or wrong. As grandchildren came into her life, this was extended to include them too. Mum was always interested in everything we did, was involved in all aspects of our life and truly believed that we could do anything we wanted to if we worked hard enough and set our minds to it. Her confidence and belief in us, knew no bounds. Our home was always full of people – not just grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins but all of our friends were welcome. My friends found Mum to be so warm hearted and welcoming, that our home was a “home away from home” for many of them. She cared about them all and was interested in each and every one. Many of my girlfriends from school and work came to my 50th Birthday party in February and Mum loved catching up with them all and in particular hearing about their families. I am so glad now, that she had that opportunity. I believe she was a woman ahead of her time. She was a strong believer that women could and should be able to do anything. She was exceptionally strong, very intelligent and fiercely independent – all qualities so evident in my niece Molly, whom she was so proud of. At 50, Mum decided to go back to work. She saved as much money as she could, convinced a bank manager to give her a loan and by the time she was 60, owned her 1st investment property on Manly Beach. She has always encouraged us all to have a strong interest in property and it is certainly a passion we shared. In fact, the first person Mum gets to know in a new area is the local Real Estate agent! We also loved to travel. In 1989, the 4 of us travelled through west coast USA and had a wonderful time. Later, Mum, dad and I travelled to Europe on a number of holidays. We could reminisce for hours and hours about the wonderful places we visited and sights we had seen on those holidays. Apart from when I was away on business, Mum and I spoke to each other every day, often numerous times. We never ran out of things to talk about. I could talk to her about anything at all and she would be interested. When we went overseas on holiday last year, I would write several texts each day, telling her where we were or where we were going, what we’d done and seen. Mum had a map beside her so she could trace our journey and kept her phone beside her so she didn’t miss a message. Molly taught her how to write and send messages herself. It was one thing however she just didn’t seem to be able to master. Most messages she sent were blank (she typed the message in the “TO” box) but I didn’t care. Whenever one of those blank messages came through I knew Mum was thinking about me and sending me love, she really didn’t need to say anything. The last 6 years with Mum have been the most precious to me. Since I gave up work, I have been able to spend at least part of almost every day with her. It didn’t matter what we did, as long as we were together. I know she worried about the pain I was in, but I told her many times that I would have put up with much worse, just to be able to spend such valuable time with her. We had so many plans for our future and so much more we wanted to do together. For some reason which I cannot understand, they weren’t to be. Just 2 weeks ago, my last text message to Mum simply said “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” And I don’t. I know she is still with me, I talk to her often and I can feel her hand on mine, but I know that no day will ever be the same again. ..