Happy Birthday

I reckon that my mum would have loved the blogosphere. As the family communicator she took on the responsibility of writing to those of her children who were away from 'home', that is, where Mum was, once a week, on a Monday.

This practice started when someone left 'home'. I think it probably started when my older sister went off to boarding school. It certainly carried on when my little brother who left initially for Melbourne and then went to work in London. The practice expanded when one sister went to live in Canada and, again when another went to live in Washington. It continued when my family went off to live in the Top End.

We bought Mum a computer in her later years so that she could email 'the letter'. It worked sometimes. She had problems with the way the computer worked - it was different from the typewriters she had spent 50 years working with. But I have no doubt that, perhaps if she had been introduced a little earlier and particularly if she had been able to blog, she would have loved it and would have found a great way to give and get news of the family.

I guess that Mum found it difficult on many Mondays trying to think of something to tell those of us that were away from the centre of the family. At times she apologised for a letter being a 'poor effort' but the letters always arrived and were always read with interest. Every now and then I would reply. That would give Mum something to say in her next letter, carefully answering everything that I had said.

I don't know whether there is anything that follows this life but I do know that something has followed my Mum's life. She lives on in our memories, some of our habits and probably more of our beliefs than we know.

'Everybody is equal. You are no better than anyone else - and no one is any better than you.' 'A smile costs nothing.' And every time I find that I have been chewing my bloody tongue. The list could go on and on.

Today would have been my Mum's birthday.