“I Still Need a Mother”

Though she has gone on

Photo by Christian Langballe on Unsplash

For most of my adult life, my mother and I lived in different countries, but kept in touch constantly, which meant weekly letters for much of our lives. Phone calls were too expensive until more recently, and we had gotten used to the old ways.

Once I was visiting my parents with my two small children, and we were about to go out. Mum couldn’t resist a…