LAST WEEK, WE asked you to tell us why you felt your mam was so special.
And you replied in droves, with touching stories of motherly love – and a few quirks to boot.
We selected our favourite responses from the comments section in order to showcase just how amazing Irish mammies can truly be in our everyday lives. (And, of course, announce the winner of our €100 One4All voucher prize…)
Ah, the typical mammy’s obsession with two very important things: making sure you’re well fed, and that you’ve got enough on you when you go outside. As Avril Mc Donnell told us:
My mammy is the typical Irish mammy. She’d feed anyone who comes into her house and won’t stop until they can literally eat no more. She’s always the one to collect any of us or neighbours from the airport even if it’s in the middle of the night and she’s in her pj’s. If anyone is sick she’s straight there by their side and she firmly believes the only cure to any ailment is a good tonic. She also has a mad obsession with us all staying warm and constantly gives out if we are not wearing a scarf and coat…She’s a great mum though and has been so loving and supporting while I’ve been ill. She can just drop everything and arrive at your front door to look after you. She also has to call me twice a day every day even if it’s just to hear my voice aww. Think that’s what her mum used to do to her
And while it might not be everyone’s mam who is up on Snapchat, Moll Rowlands shows that mammies can keep up with the best of them:
I send her pictures of clothes on snapchat and she gives me an opinion on them before I buy anything. She makes sure I’m eating enough when I’m away from home. She makes the best tea in the world and she’s always there when I need a chat or a cuddle! I love her to pieces and I’m not sure what I would do without her!
Often, we only realise what our parents have done for us when we have to do it for our own kids. Jo45 told us:
She is a mother for my young daughter whenever I cannot be there. There is no one I would trust more with the little person who is the love of my life. I didn’t realise how much I loved my mum until I became a mum myself.
Another oft-mentioned trait of the Irish mammy is letting you know the latest in the locale where you grew up – and, yup, that means who’s died. Gillian Coughlan is always kept in the know by her mammy:
My Mammy is the best Irish Mammy ever… because not a person dies in Sligo that she won’t ring to tell me…. I can hear the radio in the background. … The death has occurred of……. gotta love her!!!
And, of course, we have to have special mention for those mammies that are no longer with us, but are remembered and loved just the same. As wiklagirl reminds us:
mine died when I was 6. I do remember her and when I started primary school I was moved up to senior infants after 2 days as I was too advanced for the rest of junior infants – my mother had taught me to read, write, count etc and I still have memories of her drawing & colouring with me.However I was very fortunate to have a wonderful grandmother who at the age of 58 took on the job of rearing the brat that was me – we had some epic major teenage battles due to a double generational divide. I’m in my (very) late 40s now and it’s only in that last few years that I appreciate that the alternative could have been one of our infamous childrens homes. My gran died when I was 30 but even still she’s very much alive in my dreams.
The winner of Irish Life’s prize of a €100 One4All voucher is Marc Brown and his mammy, for this touching story of battling illness together:
My mammy is the best out there, well in my eyes anyway! I had moved out last year and only 6 months later I was diagnosed with a Hodgkin’s lymphoma which knocked us all for six (especially as an only child). Mum transformed my old room for me to move back home, made sure everything was me-friendly as I underwent chemo. She constantly looks after me, says her prayers, keeps me fed and watered with meals that are good for me, checks in on me, keeps me healthy, keeps my spirits up, and waits on me hand and foot without me saying a thing and without question, just to get me through the next few months to being better. Effectively, she’s just there for me, better than I ever could have hoped or wished for. She’s a star!
Sure it’d bring a tear to a glass eye, wouldn’t it?
Irish Life understand the importance of the Irish Mammy and want to celebrate their value. They are encouraging all parents to take 5 minutes to check how well protected your family would be if anything happened to you. To get the ball rolling, Irish Life are giving FREE Parent Life Insurance to a limited number of eligible Irish parents. Sign up here.
Irish Life Assurance plc is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.
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