Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK, Mothers’ Day. I was always very close to my mother and it was heart-breaking when she died six years ago. It’s still heart-breaking.

There’s so much I never got chance to tell her. She never got the chance to know me as Alexandra; I regret that she died before she could see me as her daughter. But my regrets are minor compared to my memories of the many happy times I spent with her. Going out for meals, shopping, cooking together, or just sitting doing a crossword.

If I have one wish it would be to live up to the example she set. She demonstrated every day such kindness and love, and I would not be the person I am today without her guidance and influence.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her, remembering her with a degree of affection that brings a tear to my eye. I miss her terribly, but I console myself with the thought that she lives on in me, in my memories and in my heart.