2010 is the year my mother died and the year I first travelled to China.

Mum announced she was going to die while the three of us, Mum, my nephew/her grandson and I were on the sofa watching a very tense darts match on TV. It was a Saturday afternoon.

She, we, the whole family, knew that she had been given three to six months to live.

She was sitting between us. She took one of our hands each.

My nephew turned down the volume on the TV.

‘Off,” I said, “Off”

Mum sat staring straight ahead and became very pale.

The three of us held hands for a long time.

Long enough for me to think about glancing up at the clock on the wall but not actually doing it.

Long enough for me to realise that at some point I would need to go...

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