This is my mum 🌻💛
And yes, mum is always right.

She is the woman who stood by my side no matter what. Through my best moments, my worst decisions, my absences and my becoming. No matter how far I drifted or how lost I became, she was always there. Steady. Loving. Present.

She made countless sacrifices to give us the best life she could. Sacrifices I didn’t always see at the time. Putting our needs before her own. Showing up when she was tired, worried, or carrying more than she ever let on. No matter what was going on, she was there for us. Always.

She is deeply caring and quietly strong. She has a warmth that makes people feel safe without needing to say much at all. People often comment on her youthful energy and spirit — the good genes — but what she’s really passed on to me isn’t how I look.

It’s how I love.
How I care.
How I keep going when things are hard.

There was a time in my life when I wasn’t present. When I was lost in addiction, disconnected and unsure how to face pain — my own or anyone else’s. During that time, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer.

I didn’t show up for her in the way she deserved or needed. I didn’t know how. I was overwhelmed, numb and running from reality.

That truth humbles me.

But here’s what I do know — she beat cancer with courage, strength and grace.

What still moves me deeply is this: the same qualities she carried through that battle somehow lived on in me, even when I didn’t realise it. While I was fighting my own. Even when I was absent. Even when I was lost. Even when I didn’t know how to ask for help.

Her resilience didn’t just get her through cancer. It found its way into me when I was in my darkest fight.

And that is something I will always carry with humility and gratitude.

Through it all, she never turned her back on me.

She kept believing in me.
She kept holding space.
She kept being the mum she has always been.

My mum is resilience without hardness.
Love without conditions.
Strength without needing recognition.

Garage of Goodness is built on the values she lived by long before I had words for them — kindness, care, patience and the belief that people can heal, grow and find their way back to themselves.

This page exists to honour her.
To acknowledge the sacrifices she made.
To recognise the woman who was always there for us, no matter what.

I am who I am because of her.

And I will never stop being grateful.

I love you so much, Mum 💛