Mama's Favourite Things
For Ava's 21st and Marlon's 18th
To remind you of the magical world we built together, full of joy and play and wonder.
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For Ava's 21st and Marlon's 18th
To remind you of the magical world we built together, full of joy and play and wonder.
Ava, you're 21. Marlon, you're 18.
Back in 2011, when Ava was 5 and Marlon was 2, I asked you both: "What are Mama's favourite things?"
Ava said:
Marlon said:
You were both right.
Ava and I built a zoo in the sandbox. We played with the animals, I took photos, and then Ava picked her favourites and turned them into a storybook. A proper one, with a cover and everything.
Then you both wandered off and did what you always did, made it your own. The elephants and rhinos ended up in the trees. Obviously.
And in between, there were bubbles.
Marlon, you were obsessed with hoovers. Whenever you saw one in someone's house, you used it. You had all sorts of toy hoovers and you took them to bed with you, including a tiny pink Hetty who later became a character in the Hoover-Mouse saga.
But toy ones weren't enough. You spotted real ones everywhere. You found broken ones people had thrown away and wanted to bring them home.
And when there wasn't a hoover around, you built one. Out of anything. And then you both strapped them onto your backs and played Ghostbusters. You'd never even seen the film, I'd only told you about it.
Every evening, after two books, one each, your choice, I'd switch off the light and tell you a story.
There were many sagas by then, all running in parallel like soap operas. You remembered every detail. But the greatest of all was The Hoover-Mouse.
It started because I asked you: "Who should be in tonight's story?"
Ava wanted a mouse. Marlon wanted a hoover.
So the Hoover-Mouse was born.
The mouse had a twin. Over time the cast expanded, a pink butterfly, a yellow duck, an orange monkey, a frog, a baby hoover, Pink Hetty Hoover, a ladybird... The casting demands were very specific and entirely mood-dependent.
Through you, I got to live inside a world I'd forgotten existed. A world where elephants and rhinos belong in trees and hoovers are worth loving and a mouse and a hoover can be best friends.
You're 21 and 18 now. Actual adults, supposedly. But I still see the five-year-old who made a storybook from sandbox photos. And the two-year-old who took a hoover to bed.
This is one small corner of it. I could fill books with the rest.
This is how I remember it.
These are still my favourite things.
In Liebe, Eure Mama
London, 15. Februar 2026