Mum.

Everyone thinks their mum is the greatest, and for good reason too, who else would put up with what we've all put them through?

My mum came from a very poor part of Scotland, went to university, studied hard, got her degree and got the first plane out of there to Sydney, Australia.

Here she successfully raised me and my two older brothers, we had a great upbringing and I thank my mum for getting over here and having us.

I have apologised for my teenage years, where I knew exactly what I didn't want to do and what I did want to do had no money in it (playing punk music and smoking weed), the "discussions" we had on these subjects probably took years from my poor mum, but I'm pretty sure she's happy with who I am now.

My mum has never taken any shit from people, she is short in stature yet vocally gigantic, she used to scream at the top of her lungs while I played hockey and was so upset at our half arsed coach that she went and did a coaching course and took over from him, embarrassing for a teenage me, but she was just getting the job done.

That's the kind of woman she is, she lost her little brother to depression, it was a devastating blow to us all, Instead of falling in a heap, which was the overwhelming feeling at his loss, she became the one of the heads of the local chapter of "Parents without partners", a group which puts on events for divorcees like her little brother where people can socialize with their peers, get out there and meet new people.

She is also a representative of the union at the university where she works, as part of the enterprise bargaining team, fighting to get and maintain benefits for university employees, and can often be found up the front of the picket line, utilizing her mighty voice.

Growing up I had a quite a nice painting in my cupboard of a few pieces of fruit, I never thought to ask where it came from, one day my mum told me she'd painted it, I was shocked, here she was seeing me thinking that I was hot stuff with my drawings and she'd been doing better stuff long before my time, between work and raising 3 boys she didn't have the luxury of spending time painting.

That has changed now that we've all grown up and she's picked up the brush again, and its just great, every time I go see her now I'm proud and jealous of her amazing talent.

She's been too busy kicking ass her life to bother being cool, she once went to a rolling stones concert and was heard singing "Scorpio! if you scorpio I never stop!" she also likes that singer "L-Joe" from the radio.

But she's cool to me, my mum is my biggest hero and regardless of how much we annoy each other I love her to bits, Merry Christmas mum xoxo

 

Here are two of mum's paintings, Paul Kelly, 2013

 

                                 Amy Winehouse, 2011