This is a true story.

It’s about my husband, his mum and how it took nearly 65 years for him to find out what she looked like.

When my husband was born, the world was a different place. People accepted circumstances that today would trigger the conception of a ‘Go Fund Me’ page. Schools were tough; education took a second place to survival.

Doctors came to your house and knew the whole family. Kids played outside till it was dark and ate whatever was put on the plate before them – or they didn’t eat.

When my husband was 3, his mum passed away. He still doesn’t know what happened to her or exactly where she is buried. He couldn’t remember what she looked like as there were no photographs of her in his childhood home and he didn’t have a photograph of his own – until recently.

One day I checked my mobile to find a load of missed calls and a text from my husband’s sister. He phoned her to find out what was wrong and thats when he got the news: “We have her, we’ve got photos of Mum”.

I won’t go into too much detail here – it’s convoluted and personal so I hope you understand. What I can say is a relative found a box of photos and delivered them to my husband’s sister. As she looked through them, she found a photo of a young woman, sitting happily with her 2 children. She knew instantly.

Copies of the photos were sent our way and I’ll never forget the day they arrived.

We sat together as my husband opened the envelope.

After a brief few seconds, with tears rolling down his cheeks, he spoke the words which carried more weight than anyone can imagine:

“Hello Mum”.