Welcome to our column series written by some of your favourite Channel 7 stars.
This week, Rebecca Maddern is reflecting on Mother’s Day.
A tear was in my eye and my heart was pounding with pride on my Mother’s Day morning.
There was a card made with love from my daughter, it was covered in hearts and stars – her favourite things to draw – and she ran into my bedroom early. I always get a little teary.
There is one friend I always think of on this day though, who doesn’t have a mum. She passed away from breast cancer when we were young.
Every year I think about how she must feel on this day.
She has her own two beautiful children now and I’m sure they spoil her on Mother’s Day. But, for her, the day of celebrating mum must always be tinged with sadness.
It was a long time ago now and I often think about how we all handled her mum’s passing. Thirty-five years ago, cancer was still talked about quietly, oddly, like people were embarrassed or ashamed of their diagnosis.
We most certainly didn’t talk as openly as we do today about grief and loss.
I was only a young teenager when it happened, my friend just a few years older than me and I can’t even recall a specific conversation where we talked about her mum after she passed.
It seemed quick, she passed away at home, there was a funeral and from memory we just kind of went on with life, a different kind of normal if you like.
It sounds cold and callous; it wasn’t at the time at all, it was just how we as kids moved on.
It really does still haunt me to this day, however, that I didn’t really express how truly sad and I upset I was for her at the time.
Or maybe, at least I’m hoping, hanging around with me doing kid stuff gave her back the normal which she craved at the time of immense grief.
I know my friend isn’t alone; so many sons and daughters will be grieving on Mother’s Day.
Whether it’s a recent passing or even decades ago, the day brings a pang of sadness to many.
I’m lucky, my darling mum is still alive but it’s inevitable… one day I’ll know what it feels like. I’ll know what my friend has been feeling, and probably still feels all these years on.
So I’ll be sure to add that special card to my keepsake box and spoil my own mum on Mother’s Day and cherish the day knowing just how lucky I am.
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