Former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss has spoken for the first time since the tragic death of his wife, Ruth.
Ruth passed away three months ago, aged 46, following a battle with terminal lung cancer.
Sunday marks the first Mother's Day without their maternal parent for Strauss' kids Sam, 13 and Luca, 10.
And ex-Middlesex opener Strauss admits it is something he never expects his boys to fully come to terms with.
“They are doing great, but it is early days,” he told The Times. “I think now that some of the initial shock has worn off and maybe some of the rawness, but that changes and evolves.
"It doesn’t mean you’re over it by any means, and I don’t think this is something you can get over. Full stop.”
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Strauss, 42, resigned from his role as England director of cricket in October to spend time with his family amid his wife's illness.
He has spoken candidly about the last year of his marriage, rating it as "probably the best".
The Ashes winner says his wife was "incredibly accepting" of her situation - and laid the foundations for a charity helping lung cancer sufferers which has since been set up in her memory.
Ruth also went shopping for presents for her sons to open on their 18th birthdays as she arranged her own palliative care while she was still well enough.
“She still wanted to fight it with everything she had, but she also accepted that it might not work out," Strauss added.
"She talked about doing things as well as she could, and if it was going to be death, she wanted to do that as well as she possibly could.”
