{"id":97579,"date":"2020-06-20T05:22:37","date_gmt":"2020-06-20T04:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/?p=97579"},"modified":"2020-06-20T05:24:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T04:24:06","slug":"a-hundred-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/presenters\/julia-roberts\/a-hundred-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"A hundred years ago\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m not going to lie; as I sit here writing my blog, I\u2019m feeling a bit emotional. Today would have been my dad\u2019s one hundredth birthday. We lost him quite suddenly almost thirteen years ago and despite trying to focus on all the good times we had together and how lucky we were to have him for so long, I still miss him terribly. I\u2019ve posted pictures of him before as a young man (he was very handsome in my opinion, but then I may be biased) but I went through my photo albums this morning searching for this picture of him holding our son, Dan. Dad\u2019s smile really could light up a room and I love this photo because Dan, aged around eight months, was fascinated by my dad\u2019s gold tooth. Excuse the background by the way, we were in the middle of renovating our first house and Mum and Dad had come down from Nottingham to help.<\/p>\n

I know I\u2019m very lucky to have had parents who loved and praised and encouraged me and my brother and sister to be the best versions of ourselves. They were fantastic role models even when times were not easy and the values they have instilled in me are what drive me to do the things I do and never give up on a dream. My one major regret is that Dad didn\u2019t live to see my words in print in my books. It\u2019s a funny thing, in our family Mum was always the one to write cards and tags on presents and yet this tag was written by my dad on this birthday gift from around fifteen years ago.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

It inspired me to write my first book, One Hundred Lengths of the Pool, which in turn gave me the confidence to start writing novels; seven of them to date with an eighth underway. With Father\u2019s Day on Sunday, I just want to urge you to treasure your dad if you still have him and if, like me, he\u2019s no longer with you in person, carry his memory in your heart.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

I am so fortunate to still have my mum, and to lighten the mood, I thought I\u2019d share this picture of her that she enclosed with my birthday card last week. It was taken in 1947, when she was twenty-one years old and amazingly, she was able to describe in detail the colours of the dress she was wearing. I thought I would share it on here after seeing all the footage of Vera Lynn who sadly passed yesterday, but what a magnificent age to reach.<\/p>\n

Just to go back to my birthday for a moment, we were able to invite my daughter Sophie\u2019s family round on Sunday for a socially distanced barbecue \u2013 we even managed a game of \u2018Heads Up\u2019 using separate phones so as not to cross-contaminate! Katie and Dan had made this fabulous cake using layers of shortbread sandwiched together with buttercream and decorated with chocolate-dipped strawberries and raspberries, meringues and edible flowers\u2026 it tasted as good as it looked.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

The cake was one lovely surprise, followed by another, courtesy of Amber, Sophie\u2019s partner Reece\u2019s daughter. I absolutely love this picture, made of individual faceted stones, and was convinced that she had done it from a photo of Wilfie such is the likeness.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

I was so thrilled, it has replaced the wedding photo of Chris and I in our family room because it just seemed to fit there better \u2013 don\u2019t worry, the wedding photo has moved to a new home in the lounge!<\/p>\n

Talking of Wilfie, I\u2019ve been promising you a video of him playing football for weeks, but he just hasn\u2019t obliged, however we did manage to capture him doing a lazy \u2018stepover\u2019 and it seemed appropriate to post it with the Premier League returning to our television screens this week \u2013 I bet the viewing figures have been huge! My team Crystal Palace take on Bournemouth tomorrow\u2026 Come on you Eagles!<\/p>\n