A Test of Endurance

Chatting with my dear old mother last night she remarked that, on this day in 1959, she married my father. This would have been their diamond wedding anniversary were it not for the fact that a) they split up ten years later; b) they got divorced in 1970; c) father died suddenly in 1997 aged just 58.

Mother did recall that her new groom decided to read out the result of the Grand National during his wedding speech which was, perhaps, a sign of things to come (it was won by Oxo at 8/1  - mother felt she was made a laughing stock...) Legend has it he married again in 1973  - on the same date to another woman who had the same name. That marriage didn't last either...

My mother is of the opinion I have many of my father's traits which I don't think is meant as a compliment. The fact that when I re-married four years ago I read out the result of the Hearts game played that day is neither here or there.

The fate of my parents marriage impacted on the life I would have. My mother remarked as much last night.

'If we hadn't got divorced I wouldn't have left Cumbernauld and taken you north to Aberdeen' she said. True.

'Then you wouldn't have met Pat (my first wife)'. True again.

'You wouldn't have had your daughters Laura and Michaela'. Indeed.

'And you wouldn't have your five little horrors grandchildren' Hmm.

'And it's unlikely you would have ever met Marion and got married again'.

At this point I asked her a question.

'Why the hell couldn't you and my father have stayed together...?'

😜😜😜😜

Mothering Sunday

For all the things I didn't say,

About how I felt along the way,

For the love you gave and the work you've done,

Here's appreciation from your admiring son.

You cared for me as a little tot,

When all I did was cry a lot,

And as I grew your work did too,

I ran and fell and got black and blue,

I grew some more and it didn't cease,

Now you had to become the police,

To worry about mistakes I'd make;

You kept me in line for my own sake.

I got older, and the story repeated;

You were always there whenever I needed.

You guided me and wished me the best,

I became wiser and knew I was blessed.

So, for all the times I didn't say,

The love I felt for you each day,

Mum, read this so you can always see

Just how much you mean to me.


To my dear Ma - thanks for everything!

A Mother's Love

To some love is just a word
To me it's a feeling
A feeling I get every time I look into your eyes
A feeling I get when I realise you're my mum
A mum who loves, shares,
A mum who inspires
Unconditionally
What's that?
That's love
A mothers love, but only you would know
And me
You returned that love time and time again
Possibly too much, nevertheless you did
Thank you
Thank you for being there when I needed you most
For being my rock when I should have been yours
Thank you for believing in me, even when I doubted myself
For being the one person I could trust
No matter what, no matter where
But most of all thank you for being you my mum...

A Misunderstanding

My dear friend from Seattle, the lovely June, creased me up when I read her latest e-mail. Part of it read:

Right now I am watching a few interesting shows on Hitler on the history channel, I was thinking of you while I was watching it..........not that you remind me of Hitler, just that I know how much you are interested in this time period.

Now I've been called and compared to many things, but Hitler is a first! I wonder if the fact I was out to the pub last night wearing knee length black leather boots and a brown shirt and am growing a small moustache may have had anything to to with it...? I know what June really meant and she alluded to it in her e-mail but I have to say it brightened my normally miserable Sunday.

My dear old mum is the person who I associate most with misunderstandings. A few years ago there was a spate of threatened anthrax attacks and she was telling me how concerned she was about opening any suspect looking parcel that may be delivered to her (although quite how she thought she would be a target for any terrorist activity is rather beyond me) As she put it, she was quite concerned about the threat of Andrex...Rather fittingly, the following day I took her to the Hearts-Aberdeen game at Tynecastle (she's an Aberdeen fan) and the kick-off was held up for a couple of minutes after the Aberdeen fans threw a multitude of toilet rolls on to the pitch. So, perhaps she had a point all along...

Her piece de resistance, however, was when she thought about getting one of those new 'George Formby Grills'.

At least her eggs would turn out nice again...