Happy Birthday Mum

Today is the 19th of April which means one special thing to me. It’s my Mum’s birthday. This year she will be 53 years old. You’d think she would hate me putting her age but one of the wonderful things about my Mum (and there are many) is that she embraces everything including how old she is.

Being away from home can hit you in the weirdest ways. It was such a rush to get out of the house and to the airport that before I knew it I was flying somewhere over Russia and leaving my family for the year.

The biggest kicker is birthdays. My baby sister and my Mum have now had their birthdays while I’ve been here and I miss them so much.

It’s a weird event to make me miss them, you’d think Easter would be more significant but nope their birthdays catch me off guard more than any other day. They are definitely made worse by the fact that I’m celebrating their birthday and they haven’t even arrived at the day yet due to lovely/despicable time zones.

I’ve lived away from home for many years now. Since university I’ve been fliting around the place but for some reason being in Korea has made me miss my family more than ever before. It must be the knowledge they aren’t just there. I think it’s the time difference that affects me the most. In the UK I could ring anytime and hopefully reach them but here its near impossible (Although I know if my Mum reads this she will tell me I can ring anytime, after all she is normally up at 3am.. Crazy lady!)

Anyway, there is a reason to this post. I want to take a second to celebrate my Mum. The most wonderful woman I have ever known. I know that people say this about their family a lot but I can honestly say that I would love her the same even if I wasn’t lucky enough to be her daughter.

So here are some facts about the crazy woman that is Gail Vincent.

.Gail was born in the swinging sixties but had her hay day during the Disco era of the 70’s. This woman can dance better than anyone I’ve known/seen/watched on telly. When I was a stroppy teenager I’m afraid to say it embarrassed me but I would give anything to have on film her Michael Jackson routine (that’s right, every single step of all Michael Jackson’s routines done perfectly).

 

.Some of my favorite childhood memories involve my Mum turning the music up loud and dancing with us around the house like crazy people. We still do it to this day. Even as I was about to leave for the airport we were bopping around the kitchen.

.When she was 5 she and her family took a ship across the world and moved to Australia. This is an incredible thing to have done not only at such a young age but at a time when people never left their own street. I love the stories she has of the 3 week trip to Oz.

. Once my mum arrived back in Britain she took up gymnastics. She became as close to a professional gymnast as you can. I’ve talked to her coaches who said she should have been a common wealth award winning gymnast no problem. Unfortunately circumstances meant she couldn’t compete but she went on to coach gymnasts and also taught me a lot of what I know. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen her do 12 back flips in a row.

.Her first job was one of the only female line managers in Sony. This is a huge achievement as it took a long time for this to be a common occurrence. After researching the company I think she may have been one of if not the first. Unfortunately it does mean that she still can see every fault with a television screen. Its also where she probably gets her love of gadgets (we seriously own them all…ALL!)

. She joined the Air force in her twenties and became an Air Traffic controller. Yes you are reading this right. She has done so much. My aunties have talked to me in the past about my mum while she was in the air force. Apparently it was a travesty that she wasn’t promoted (and a bit misogynist I’m afraid) but this woman has done the most stressful job in the world and made it look easy. It’s probably the reason she can cope with my brother, sister and me.

. She decided to have me at 25. These days this sounds young but this woman was always meant to be a Mum. She’s everyone’s favorite auntie, person and neighbor. She cares for everyone and I know I am extremely lucky for her to have made this choice. She knew my name before I was even a speck and wrote it over and over. I think she got the idea from a Sesame Street episode. My brothers name is a welsh name, Craig and my sister Samantha is named after one of her favorite shows, B*witched.

. She took the Air Force to court! This makes me proud and happy in many ways. They fired her when she was pregnant but instead of sitting and moping. This new mother (she’d had my brother by the time she got it to court) fought one of the biggest government services and won. She is the ultimate female role model. They didn’t even see her coming! First thing she bought with her winnings. Mickey and Minnie Mouse toys for her kids of course!

. She is a home bird and yet the most traveled lady around. She has lived in Wales, England, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia and traveled all over Europe, America, Mexico as well as many more. I was lucky enough to go to Scotland with her this year to visit my brother. Surprisingly she had never been.

.She loves the Muppets. Jim Henson is her hero. Let’s face it, I’m an animator because of her. She taught me to draw and taught me everything I know about people watching and behavior. She has the greatest sense of humor (over looking the fact that she likes the film ‘White Chicks’) and has the greatest giggle in the world. Her 3 sisters and 3 brothers talk constantly about her giggle. She is the baby girl of the family and they adore her with every fiber of their being. The same as pretty much every one that knows her.

. She loves the color purple. When she was young and people asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up her answer was. Have a purple house, with a purple car, with purple shoes, purple hair and eat purple things.

I apologies for this very self indulgent post but there isn’t enough time or reasons in the world to talk about this woman.

I haven’t even touched on the fact she is now a fluent Sign language interpreter, has about 5 jobs, has the cleanest house in the world and makes the worlds greatest chips (fries for you Americans).

My brother and sister are a testament to all of these things I love about her.

Mum, I miss you so much as I just hope that when I grow up (more) I’m like you in every way.

xxxxx (p.s sorry there are no baby photos of my lovely mum....I need to steal some!)
p.p.s Aunty Pat, You are like a mum to herand therefore she gets it all from you :)