It has been difficult, to say the least, to write a speech that honours our mother; to find the right words to capture her essence. Vivacious isn't vibrant enough, witty isn't sharp enough and stubborn isn't bullheaded enough. Mother, daughter, sister, wife, friend. Mum was many things to many people but what unites us is how much we loved her, and how much we will miss her.
Mum was truly unique - I know of no other person who hoovered the Christmas tree or stood on a chair to sing about their love of mushy peas. She loved to cook; she loved doing the Irish Times crossword while sipping a black coffee. She enjoyed traveling, crisscrossing continents to find somewhere she felt truly at home. At every destination she made treasured friends and lifelong memories.
Mum was passion personified; when she loved, she loved fiercely but if you got on her bad side you certainly knew it, as many a customer service agent can attest to.
Even the strongest of us can find the world to be a dark place at times, but mum always found a way to illuminate her world, with laughter and a life filled with adventures. I could talk for hours about all of the wonderful qualities mum had but for us, the most important part of her life was being a mother.
She was the person who held our hands on the first day of school, dried our tears and kissed us goodnight. She was the person that gave Emma such comfort that they slept in the same bed until she was 8. She was the one who scolded strangers on a train in Rome for laughing at me, even though she herself hated my tattoos and crazy hair. She was the woman who raised us to be strong, determined women who aren't afraid to love with every fibre of our being, just as she loved us.
When we were kids, mum named us the three musketeers. Today we have to say goodbye to our beautiful, amazing mother and we will miss her everyday. But we have our memories, we have her love and we will always be her musketeers.
