The person I admire the most in life is...

Mum.

The reason for this is that my mum not only incredibly morally irreproachable and upstanding, she has also been through so much in life, yet still shrugs it off and carries on.

My mum was in a very serious car accident when she lived in Southern Africa as a young lady. If she had been wearing her seatbelt, she may well have died as the car rolled and luckily she was able to get out.

Due to this, I am reticent about wearing a seatbelt. Lots of people may believe I try not to wear it because I am trying to be 'hard.' I want to set the record straight here.

Mum also moved continents from Africa to Europe and settled in England in the mid-1970s. She was unable to bring anything with her, except my father and his dubious morals. Despite this, she made it a success, learning how to teach along the way.

My Mum and Dad broke up in the 90s for, I am presuming a number of reasons, but primarily because my Dad was going to America for the whole summer holiday on his own. This was not a one-off ‘midlife crisis, finding yourself' vibe, it happened over a number of years, too many to mention.

Mum recovered and raised me, as my father and sister moved away; one was kicked out, the other went to university about as far as she could get from Bexleyheath; Aberdeen.

I rebelled and as a single parent, my mum raised me as I turbulently navigated adolescence to Nirvana on volume 11. I was angry, upset and hurt. I took this all out on my Mum, as she tried to recover from breaking up with my Father.

My sister also has not treated my Mum with the greatest love or respect throughout the years. It appears though, this relationship is now improving. Better late than never, I guess.

My relationship with my Mum now is incredibly strong. She is stubborn and will not do what anyone wants her to do. She is a rebel and I have taken that from her. She currently is poorly and will not go to the doctor, this is an example of her stubborn, feisty ways!

We fall out, we fall in, but no matter what, I will support her in anything she wants to do and treat her with the respect she deserves because she is a strong, loving woman and has always supported me no matter what.

I want to write a book about my Mum but she doesn’t think there is much to write about. Typical Mum!

This is my mum and me at a restaurant for her birthday 2017.

#life #selfhelp #admire #mum #family #love #africa #southafrica #singleparentfamily