Will I ever not need my mum?

“Hi Mum”. The conversation always starts the same. She can immediately tell if I’m ringing just for a chat or if there’s a specific purpose to the call. She has me sussed from those two words alone.

There was a period a few months back when I was ringing once, sometimes even twice a day. I’d always be apologetic, but life was so stressful with work and the house that I needed to either vent or ask for advice. She was always there to listen and offer whatever it was I needed. One time I just broke down sobbing, when I thought we’d lost the house we now live in, and she cried too. I feel guilty for that.

I remember ringing her in the midst of some crisis or other when I was at university. She dropped everything and drove to Cardiff, bringing a picnic full of my favourite treats. We chatted as we ate sandwiches in a sunny park. I felt better afterwards and the supposed crisis didn’t seem like so much of a crisis any more. 

On the morning I went into labour I just felt an overwhelming need to hear my mum’s voice. I hadn’t felt Frog move inside me for a few hours, she was eleven days past her due date and, for the first time in the pregnancy, I was panicked. As soon as Mum asked me, “Is everything OK?” I just broke down. Proper big baby sobs. The (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine and I went out for a drive. When we got home there were my mum and sister on our doorstep, laden down with bags full of food for a barbecue. “I couldn’t not come to you,” she said. “I knew you needed your mum.”

I’m thirty now – I’ll be thirty one later this year. Is there a time when I ever won’t need my mum?

It’s comforting to know I’m not alone. According to a poll by Mobile by Sainsbury’s the average woman spends two whole days a year on the phone to their mum, with one in ten of us ringing our mums twice every single day.

Take a look at the rest of the poll findings and then tell me, is there a time when I ever won’t need my mum?!

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Disclosure: This is a commissioned post but all words and opinions remain my own. I really do still need my mum. For more information please see my disclosure page.