MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS

From the same book by Kerry Wilkinson:

"We sit on the sofa and there's a minute or two where neither of us speaks...Conversation isn't easy because there's only really one thing we can talk about - us. I can't imagine having the same types of breezy conversations that Nattie and I enjoyed.

It's then that it dawns on me that this is what it's supposed to be like between a mother and daughter. Thirteen years apart or not, there are meant to be secrets and things that aren't shared. This is probably how we'd be around each other even if there weren't those missing years.

The mothers and daughters who go around as if they're sisters are the exceptions. The weird exceptions. Mothers who should know better, refusing to grow up, or daughters who can't find friends their own age. It must be a female thing. There are plenty of dads who refuse to grow up - but none I've met who hang around with their sons as if thery're all brothers."