Picture of a tree

Once, when mum was visiting the Netherlands, I went with her to the forest where she loves to walk in. We came across a tree, and in the middle of the trunk was a massive lump. A tree tumour.

Mum reached out her arm and touched that tree. "Giving you encouragement. Be strong!" she said. She knew how the tree felt. I told her, see even a tree with a tumour can grow strong and tall!
I captured that moment on camera, and the picture I had printed now sits on a shelf in mum's bedroom...

These are the memories that at a journey's end will carry us safely and warmly into the unknown that follows...