DIANE KNOX: Mum is truly my best friend and our relationship is special
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TODAY may just be May 8 to many of you, but in the US it is Mother’s Day.
I have no idea why the day we celebrate our mums (or moms!) changes as we cross the Atlantic, but it’s always the second Sunday of May over here.
In the UK, Mothering Sunday is tied to Easter and always takes place exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday.
That means that my lucky mum, who’s also a Scot living in America, gets two days dedicated to her each year.
However, in reality, we could never do enough to celebrate her and all she does for us.
My mum, Valerie, was born in Raigmore Hospital and spent her childhood in Strathconon, a small hamlet in Ross-shire.
In fact, she grew up on a remote estate in Scardroy – which is basically in the middle of a glen – and we always joke that her best friends were the sheep and the goats who roamed around her house!
My grandfather was a gamekeeper on the estate and she spent many years on the land before moving to Glasgow for university, and then back up to Inverness.
Mum worked as a speech therapist and actually met my dad in the Station Hotel!
The loud, fun-loving American won her heart and the rest is history.
They bought their first house at Loch Flemington, near Croy, before moving to Scorguie and then to Westhill.
My mum has always been an absolute saint; the greatest woman in the world.
I know everyone says that about their mum, but we’ve always had such a close bond. Well, apart from those early teenage years when I’m sure I terrorised her and gave her many sleepless nights…!
When my parents moved to Jacksonville in 2005, leaving me in Inverness, I remember feeling like my heart had been ripped from my chest, packed in their suitcases and transported to the other side of the world!
It was a horrible adjustment to make, but we always made the best of it, frequently travelling back and forth to spend time together.
If we had five days together, we made sure they were the greatest five days, packed with quality time.
She’s truly my best friend and I know the relationship we have is special.
I have some friends who simply don’t have that bond with their mum, and it saddens me.
I talk to her every single day, we constantly text back and forth, we meet for coffee or dinner several times a week and she’s my first point of contact whenever I have any sort of dilemma or news to share.
I know I could tell her anything and she’d be there with great advice, a sympathetic ear or a shoulder to cry on.
I wish I could say that we have a full day of mum-love planned for this Sunday, but she and my dad are actually currently away on a trip to the town of Kohler, in Wisconsin.
So celebrations will have to wait, but as I said, we really do try to celebrate her every day.
And next week we have something special lined up which I cannot wait to share.
More on that soon…!
