What's your greatest achievement?

I suspect that many people will react to this question by stating, modestly, that they haven't achieved anything. We tend to measure achievement by success in the material world, which is a shame as there are far more important things in life than that. Look back over the last few days. Did you make a meal for your family that they all really enjoyed? Surely that's an achievement - especially if you have any fussy eaters in your family!  Did you chat to an elderly neighbour and bring a smile to his or her face? That's definitely something that you should be proud of achieving.

Like many mothers, my immediate reaction if I were to be asked what my greatest achievement was would be to say my children, however that's not really accurate. I am very proud of Vicky, Mark and Kate and all three of them have achieved a lot, but what they have achieved has been through their own talents and hard work, and is nothing to do with me! Of course my first husband and I brought them up and tried to instil our values in them, but all we did was what most parents do, so we can't claim any credit for our children's successes. I am proud of what my children have done so far with their lives but even more importantly I am very proud of who they are.

Many of my most satisfying moments in life have been to do with my family, however I do have one achievement of my own - the publication of my first book -which is almost entirely due to my own efforts.

I say "almost entirely" because I wrote the book myself, however I did have some help from my first editor, Debs Jenkins, and my daughter Vicky proof-read the revised version and made some very helpful suggestions. Very few of us are able to achieve things in life totally on our own,

So back to my original question: what's your greatest achievement? Please share with us and remember that you should be proud of yourself for what you have achieved.