Nell: What a lovely photo. I’m not sure if I’ve seen it before.
Me: It’s my mother in her garden with Seamus and Baby Nigel.
Nell: Look how tiny Nigel was. It’s hard to imagine now.
Me: Yes.
Nell: Today is your mother’s birthday, isn’t it?
Me: Yes. She would have been 91.
Nell: She was a lovely lady.
Me: She was.
Nell: And she loved dogs.
Me: She did. I remember in the last few weeks of her life she asked my sister Charlotte if there was any way of smuggling Nigel into the hospital for a cuddle.
Nell: And was there?
Me: No. Unfortunately not. Dogs are not allowed in hospitals.
Nell: These last few days have been full of memories for you, haven’t they?
Me: They have, but I’m trying to focus on the happy memories.
Nell: I know. It’s okay to be sad, too. It’s only in the darkness that the stars can shine.
Me: I remember you telling me that during a Covid Christmas. It’s a beautiful thought.
Nell: Yes. Talking of Christmas, why don’t you tell everyone the good news?
Me: Haven’t I told them already?
Nell: I don’t think so.
Me: Alice and Andre and the grandchildren are coming here for Christmas.
Nell: It’s going to be a very full house.
Me: It’s going to be a wonderfully full house. I can’t wait.
Nell: Herr Hoffman’s already planning a mixture of an English and German Christmas.
Me: It’s so exciting. Faye has never had an English Christmas and Jonathan was just a baby.
Nell: We have so much to look forward to, don’t we?
Me: We do.
Nell: But for now it’s fine to look back.
Me: I miss my mother so much.
Nell: I know.
Me: Sorry.
Nell: No sorries. Not today.
