What’s one thing you own that holds deep sentimental value?
When My World Fell Apart, Mum Sent Me a Cuddle
One of my most treasured possessions is a piece of card with a few lines drawn in black biro. It is a sketch of two hands, one resting inside the other. At the top, my mother has written, ‘A Cuddle’, and at the bottom, ‘With love, Mamma’, followed by the wonderfully self-deprecating observation, ‘Very serious Picasso influence!’
She sent it to me towards the end of 2001, when things had begun to unravel. I’d lost my job shortly after buying a house, and the future, which had seemed reasonably secure, suddenly looked anything but. Losing your income when you’ve just taken on a mortgage, with a wife and two young children to think about, isn’t a particularly pleasant place to be.
Mum knew I was going through a bad patch. She was a great letter writer, frequently sending notes and longer letters full of advice, encouragement and practical suggestions. She pressed me to pursue an MA in Art, followed by a teaching qualification. She even had someone lined up at the University of Sussex, one of her many contacts from her years at King’s College, Durham, who had studied fine art and completed an MA. I just had to put a portfolio together. (At one point she’d wanted me to retake all my A’ levels and do medicine!)
Sometimes, rather than offer a possible solution to my problems, she simply picked up a pen and drew me a cuddle.
There is something wonderfully characteristic of her in that little drawing. The humour, the affection, the complete absence of fuss. She couldn’t reach through the post and put her arms around me, so she sent me something that could.
I’ve kept it for twenty-five years. It is framed now, though the card is still creased and marked. I’ve never wanted to tidy it up.
Instead, I turned her drawing into a print. I’ve made cards from it, reproducing those wonderfully simple lines of two people embracing. What began as a spontaneous gesture of maternal affection has become something I can share with other people.
I rather like the thought that Mum’s cuddle has acquired a life of its own.
It reminds me that when everything else seems to be falling apart, sometimes the most valuable thing anyone can offer is simply to let you know you’re loved.
Leave a Reply