In December, when Nelson Mandela died, I shared a quote that is one of my favourites. Little did I know how the words of that quote were soon to be reinforced for me, and how much they would help me through the past couple of weeks.

Over the weekend our friend and family photographer Israel gave me a disc filled with beautiful images – photos he’d taken of Love Bug and I last April. Other than being blown away {again!} by how perfectly they capture our love and joy with each other, there is one photo which I am continually drawn to. It’s not one of the colourful fun, happy, laughing, silly photos, rather quite a serious black and white photo.

To the outside world this is a moment of quiet. A mumma holding her precious daughter. When I look at this photo, almost certainly because of the past couple of weeks, I see a mumma holding on tight and warning the world away with the protective gaze of a mumma lion.

It captures my feelings today in a photo taken 9 months ago. And I love it.