I will never be able to have children of my own. That is heartbreaking to me. But I have been lucky enough to be an aunt and a mother to many children in my life.

A lot of ladies at work have children. A lot of them are single mothers. A lot of them work exclusively to support those children.

When I was little, both my parents worked long hours. Me and my siblings were often on the streets, getting up to no good. I would have loved somebody to take us somewhere. Nobody ever did.

So every summer, I take some of the children on day trips. Museums, the beach, the cinema, wherever they want to go.

Today I took them to a theme park. Eight children. Three adults.

We were sitting around a picnic table just now when, completely in sync, all eight of them said: "Thank you, Auntie Füsun."

It's my pleasure, my little darlings.

They have no idea how much joy they give me.