I never knew how she did it, how she instinctively knew just what I needed her to do without ever asking or needing so much as a word or hint from me, it was like somehow she just read every thought that I had and ones that hadn't happened yet and acted before I ever realised what I needed. She knew when she came in that morning that it was just a rough day, there was no real reason why, it was "just one of those days" when everything and everything conspired to just subdue any happiness. Mum didn't pry or try imposing herself on me, she never needs too, she knows that once she makes the first play, I will just open up and spill out any thoughts that have been bothering, little things that just bubble away, some known, some unknown, either way they all come trickling from my lips as she breaks me free from that place. Mum knows that every once in a while, the past comes back to haunt me, not always with active thought but just a little thing reminds me of those times before I had a place to actually call my home and a real mum all of my own. Today she feigned interest in a school project, a subtle ruse to position herself perfectly to tease me into dropping my guard just enough for her to remind me. As I grabbed the desk under her torment, her voice cracked the silence "You bringing that with you?", gently jesting as she dragged me backwards and with an incredible flick tossed me straight into her arms as she wrapped them around so that I never hit the ground. "Oooof!" she giggled softly as she thumped backwards onto my bedroom floor with me bumping down into her arms, yet even all the way down I watched her smile serenely, she was so happy and oddly composed. Silenced, I watched as she coiled her arms tighter mid air, holding me firmly so that I fell more like a feather than a stone being cast to the ground and as we came to rest she giggled "Good job I'm rounded huh kid? with that elegantly proud smile that is reserved and only ever greets me. Her gentle gaze soothes and without thought my arms find their way around her neck and our cheeks glide to greet each other, in silent yearning as we both have come to need each other and each other alone. Many moments may pass but some moments last and withstand the tests of time, these days we spend together all lived as she so often says are a careful use of what she always calls "borrowed time" and then slowly sighs as she squishes me a little more. Her gentlest touch and squeezes so perfectly measured to remind me that she doesn't mind if we stay here all day, because when all is said and done the most important thing to my mum is that we remember that most of the time we spend is invested together. As when the light fades our most cherished memories will be of how we spent it together, memories of when it was just us.