Sitting on the couch on Sunday following my annual Mother’s Day breakfast in bed, alone with my thoughts made me think what it would be like if I were to have my role of mother taken from me. I know the pain of losing a mother, but to not be a mother is something I just could not fathom. Those nights when us mothers go to bed following a rough day with the kids, unable to sleep as we try to work out what went wrong, only to wake to a new day and seeing the faces of our kids healthy and safe. Getting late night phone calls to pick them up from parties, running them here, there and everywhere to social and sporting commitments – before we know it they will be off on their own journey, and our role as mother will have less responsibility. 18 or 20 summers is the average amount of time they are under our roof. We only really ‘borrow’ them and set them free to find their way…

I am overwhelmingly grateful, I just realised, of my role as a mother. &nbs