It was the way she said, “Is that you?”  She looked up at me for confirmation and then back to the photograph.  “You look, pretty…”.  She looked back at me and smiled again.  There was a pride in her eyes. I got the inference.  I don’t look pretty now.  I am not one of the pretty mums.  I am not one of the cool mums.  I am her mum and she loves me, would not swop me, but there is still a piece of her that wishes I were all of it.  A mum she could be proud of, not just love. I

The school run was a rush that morning. I mean, when isn't it? There was something about that morning, though. The door shut with a...

"You know the thing I never heard anything about before all this? The nightmares. The vibrant, shockingly, disturbingly, vivid...

"The watch ticking, that's all I could hear. In the hustle and bustle of the airport, all I could hear was her watch ticking. We were...

She stepped into the bath and felt the heat, the tingle, in her feet. As she sat down slowly, using the edges of the bath to lower...

"Some days I feel like an old lady. My bones ache. I am weighed by responsibilities. I have worries I never dreamed I would have to...

“Is it wrong that I don’t want her to be like them? Is it wrong that I want her to be more like me? Isn’t that what we do? Raise our...

“Face it. You haven’t been a good friend. You haven’t been a friend, period.” “True.” “And that’s it? No apology? Seriously?” “I am...

“I have been ‘taught’ many lessons in my life. Two, old fashioned and maybe a tad preachy, words of advice have always served me well. ...

“It’s such a beautiful photo. You look so happy.” I felt the blow to my stomach and I was winded and nauseous. Words really can strike...

​ "What are you looking at?" The question interrupted my thoughts and I surprised myself being honest in reply. "I’m just siting here...

As I sat by his bedside, as I shuffled to get as comfortable as you can get on one of those plastic chairs, it occurred to me that I had...

The door closed and I stood behind it for a few moments, unmoving. Staring in to space, I needed just a little time. I needed to...

"On the journey back to the house, Bernie told me the cowboy hat rule - white for summer and black for winter. The ones to the floor, or...

The whole length of the sea facing wall was glass. From the sofa, and behind the faux fur cushions, I watched the waves crash against a...

It's amazing the things that get left in your handbag. I once carried a thin book , a novella, in my handbag for a month. I took it on...

"There are sometimes little signs that tell you how much people love you, or loved you. Four months after my Great Aunt died, I was...

"I want this never to have happened. Actually I want to cry. I suppose I've no real reason to now. It's happened, it's done now, but I...

"Once I started to write again, I had a problem with in my conscience, about the ownership of a story. It happened to me. It was my story....