Our Lives
My sister and I were looking forward to being mums together. Then something unthinkable happened.
Ihanded my sister Lorna a string of fairy lights and watched as she wrapped them around the front door. ‘That’s it, the finishing touch,’ she said. ‘You’ve done it again,’ I said.
‘It looks amazing.’ Every Christmas she’d go to Mum and Dad’s and take charge of putting up all the lights.
It had become a tradition in their street to go all out with the festive decorations.
People would travel to see them all, and we would raise money for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital at the same time.
And in our family, Lorna, who worked in events, was a pro when it came to decking the halls!
She was four years younger than me and we were like chalk and cheese. I was always the quiet one, while Lorna was the life and soul of any party.
But despite our differences, we loved each other dearly.
As I settled down and married my husband Steve, Lorna was still focused on building her career and seeing as much of career and seeing as m the world as she possibly could.
If someone said, ‘let’s jump on a plane’, Lorna would be there in a shot!
She was glamorous too and didn’t need much of an excuse to get dressed up.
One day, we were catching up and Lorna said: ‘I feel I’ve done it all — except two things. I want to see the Northern Lights and I want to be a mum.’
‘You’ll definitely get to do both one day,’ I said.
In time, Lorna ticked off the first of those two things. On a holiday with a friend, she finally saw the Northern Lights.
‘It was amazing,’ she gushed when she got back. ‘Everything I could’ve imagined, and more!’ Then, a few months later, Lorna rang me with some big news.
‘I’m pregnant!’ she announced.
‘Oh my God, that’s amazing!’ I said.
‘I’m just past 12 weeks and I couldn’t wait to tell you,’ she ait to tell you,’ she replied.
I couldn’t have been happier.
Although she was going it alone, she had always been fiercely independent and I knew she’d make the best mum.
Her pregnancy went well and before long she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.
The Northern Lights had made such an impression on her, that she decided to call her daughter Aurora.
By now, the COVID-19 lockdown had hit. And not long after Aurora was born, Lorna was told she’d lost her job. ‘I’ve just had a baby, this couldn’t have come at a worse time,’ she said.
She moved back in with Mum and Dad, which meant that she could enjoy being a mum to Aurora without worrying about money.
As I lived just 20 minutes away from Mum and Dad, in Croydon, Greater Lond
