Invitation from the other side: Tears fall as we meet again, tiny droplets in an ocean of grief The curtain call on the dreaded anticipation, felt every minute of the long, long hours Hurtling through the clouds to see you Tears fall as I hug your frail frame From the grave you had summoned me You were drowning and I couldn’t save you You had gone to the other side I had already grieved. But you were happy to see me As a mother should be Many Happy Returns: You never liked getting gifts But were always pleased To receive Small things You preferred to give You never felt worthy To receive I gave you gifts anyway Now all I wish Is to give you more Goodbye mum: Thank you for waiting so I could hold your hand one last time, just as you did when I was little and scared of the dark and you held my hand tightly until I fell asleep. Thank you for the warm childhood memories - home made lemonade and freshly baked oat biscuits on hot summer afternoons, for all the special meringue birthday cakes you baked for me, for listening to my teenage worries, for travelling over to New Zealand to see us year after year. Thank you for the special times we shared sitting together in the sun on your little deck in the retirement village up the road, the palms rustling in the gentle breeze. Your strawberry plant was fruiting and the red flowers on your little Pohutakawa tree was in bloom. You favourite - the colourful Strelitzia - which you said looked like the head of an exotic bird. I felt privileged to have you close, to go shopping together and drink coffee in the Browns Bay French Café, walking with you on Browns Bay Beach and listening to stories from your youth. I felt so proud of how you had embraced your newfound freedom – you took the lift down to the pool for a swim every day, you filled the basket of your walker with books from the library bus, you joined the book club, the choir, Tai Chi and the bowls. You volunteered to play scrabble with patients in the Village hospital. Thank you for being the best mum to me that you could have. I love you. Sleep well.