When my son was born and I realised I was a mum.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗
The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Others on this question
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Cybill Shepherd
American actress and former model
Visiting my children at college. I don't stay long, because their lives are so busy - the way they should be.
Sally Mann
Photographer
On the island of Bequia—one summer, out of the blue, a benefactor (thank you, Charlene) flew our entire family there and put us up in a cliffside house that was a weird mixture of Gaudí and Fred Flintstone and where we went to sleep at eight and got up at five. In between we read, swam, hiked, and unknowingly enjoyed the last moment before the irrevocable shear of adolescence set in.
Joyce Carol Oates
Novelist, short story writer and essayist
On two dates: 23 January 1961 and 13 March 2009 (my two weddings).
Bella Freud
British fashion designer
When my son, Jimmy, was two and I was just pottering about with him.
More from Alison Steadman
View profile →Friendly and warm.
Playing a pregnant woman, and not being able to find the padding - I shoved a cardie under my dress, and spent the whole play walking around with a sleeve dragging along the floor.
I repeat stories (like my mum used to).
Not making a movie with Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant.
Lack of understanding and tolerance.
I would never have smoked - I gave up years ago.
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