Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I've learnt a lot about Dad from going around the world and listening to other people. Whether I've been in Australia, the Caribbean, Leeds, Scarborough or London there's always someone who's got a story about him.
But having gone through two bouts of breast cancer and all the operations and treatments it's fair to say mum's a special human being - especially as she had to deal with the tragedy and heartache that went with Dad's death.
My dad is never far from my thoughts. A place, a game, an incident somewhere or an unexpected word from someone can trigger a memory, which then triggers another, and suddenly I'm thinking about him, if only for a minute or two.
Get picked for an Ashes Test at Lord's and you know you're going to meet the Queen. She arrived before the start of our game against Australia in 2013 and we lined up for inspection like the household cavalry on Horse Guards Parade.
I've learnt - and this pleases me - that my dad's cricketing life and my own will always be intertwined, even though I will finish far behind the number of appearances he made for Yorkshire and also his length of service at Headingley.
The 20th anniversary of my dad David's death coincided with my 50th Test cap and for it to be my mum Janet's birthday, too, made it an emotional few days. It was not an easy week, being the Pink Test and my mum having had breast cancer twice.
We're a special family and it's just that Dad's life was taken away from us far too early. Everywhere you go around the world he had an effect on people - in the Caribbean, Australia, South Africa or England. I've never heard a bad word said about him.
Everyone who survives cancer knows the victory against it may only be temporary. You know eventually that you might have to fight all over again. Almost 15 years after my mum's first bout of cancer, a second bout occurred. This time she needed an operation.
You only have to see the rate of divorce in cricket. You're away so much and then 18 months later, you're around all the time and not sure what to do with the rest of your life. You go from being at the peak of your powers to being at the bottom of the food chain.
I played fly-half in rugby, so I could influence the game, and midfield in hockey too. So it is part of my sporting DNA to want to be in the game at all times, to affect what is going on. That's down to genetics and being ginger, I reckon. We're special specimens.
Yorkshire knew how important Scarborough was for me. So I was awarded my county cap there in 2011. That first cap is one of the most precious things I own. The club didn't tell me that I'd be receiving it, but instead tipped off my mum, making sure she saw the presentation.
I think it's something you learn over a period of time; you learn to be more comfortable within yourself, appreciative of what you've got and what you haven't, you realise the talents you have and what you can do and you take on the chin the things that you have to. It's part and parcel of growing up.
I've always tried to honour my dad and what he did for Yorkshire, which for him frequently meant putting the county's cause before his own. But my late boyhood, my early teens and my adolescence were full of net sessions and practice drills he never witnessed, ups and downs he never knew about and matches he never saw.