It’s a shared hobby – a shared passion! My husband and I love bird-watching. When I was first engaged I realised I had a choice – find a way to be interested in birds, or be very bored when I went bird-watching with my future husband – and for the rest of my life! So almost by mistake I fell in love with birds too. Today is our seventh wedding anniversary – so we’re going to an owl sanctuary.

I realised I had a vocation when I was fifteen, there was a clear moment in my mind when I understood the sanctification of ordinary work. It wasn’t until I was at university in Oxford that I had the opportunity to attend any formation activities of Opus Dei and when I did, I joined very quickly. It was all lying there dormant so at the first opportunity it all came out. I’m unusual in that I’ve always known what I wanted and where I was going, from a very young age. It’s a character thing.

My vocation is my own, independent of my parents – who are both members of the Work. I joined Opus Dei in a different time and place to them, they experienced a great deal of discrimination, I have never had that difficulty. I joined Opus Dei in 1992 when it was already a Personal Prelature, it had come of age by then.

Opus Dei helps me clarify everything in my choices, I consider everything in the light of my vocation – is this for God’s glory, or my own? It gives me confidence in my decision-making. Its made me more who I am, I’ve learnt that we need to know ourselves – I’ve learnt more and more who I am and the potential I have, it is drawn out of me and makes me more me.