We all have to adapt to what life throws at us. Whether we like it or not.

This past week has been a huge learning curve for me; my mother went into hospital to have a full knee replacement. With ‘a few extra frills’ as she put it.

She left me with a long list on the kitchen counter. ‘Hah! I won’t need that’, I thought. I have never been more wrong in my life!

As she left for the hospital there were a few parting bits of information, such as telling me the big white thing in the corner is the washing machine. No?!

There were black marks all over the dials made with my Sharpie’s indicating which settings were needed, and the same with the cooker.

I wasn’t worried. How hard could running a house be for a week? Very hard, it turned out. I quickly learnt that clean washing was not done by magic, that someone had to actually put it in the machine to start with. So when I realised I was down to my last pair of boxers, something had to be done. Thank goodness for that list.

Then all the clean forks disappeared, along with plates. Luckily there were some paper ones at the back of the cupboard.

Meanwhile, Mother was working on breaking out of hospital early. When I took in her clothes she vanished behind the curtains to change. After some minutes listening to the sounds of reinforced snapping elastic I felt I should ask if she needed help?

She replied that it would only put me off the female form for life. Bless!

Now she’s home, and if I thought it was tough while she was away, it was twice as bad now. Have you ever tried to keep a fiercely independent woman in one spot? Trust me, it’s not easy.

And I still have to try and explain the number of burnt saucepans in the kitchen. Oh, welcome home, mum!