Your mum’s sixtieth birthday is coming up and you and your siblings are planning a special event. She has always sacrificed for the five of you, and she’s worked hard all her life. For once you want to treat her like a queen..

You discover a castle along the Kent coastline that has been converted into a hotel and restaurant. Your younger brother wants to hire two Hummer limos for the family. Your younger sister, ever the practical one, searches the Internet for “limo hire Kent” and finds exactly the type of limo hire your brother was hoping for.

Your older sister shops for new clothing and luggage for Mum. Your older brother says, “Whatever it takes to make this special. We owe her.”

All goes as you planned. But the best memories are not of the luxuries themselves, but of your mum’s reactions, from disbelief, to shock, to wonder, to delight. She will take the memories of that weekend, to clasped to her bosom, to her grave – may it be many years hence.