The first shows my younge
st sister Jackie about to do the birthday candle bit - Alison on the right aged 9 and her little cousin are watching with bated breath... at the time of taking this photo,
I noticed my mum sitting back from the table on a stool in the top left and swung the camera up to her only to be rewarded with the most wonderful laugh...she had no idea I had focused on her and was in her own private heaven no doubt laughing at things the rest of us were unaware of. And no, the
glass of wine was not hers... mum never... not ever ... not even once tasted any alcohol - although she didn't mind others doing so.
She died not too long after this... aged sixty six - but this is one of the favourite memories and photos that I have of her.
I know why mum wasn't sitting down at the table with others...mum would not push herself forward and if she saw the seats were full was happy to take a back seat with no resentment and no hurt...
She lived so much in the present having been diagnosed in her late 40's with end stage Cardiomyopathy and told she could die at any moment and suddenly- which was what happened... )she was not found for a few days after she died - something i still have nightmares about), but knowing this didn't turn her into someone who was fearful or felt sorry for herself...the last photo here of her means a lot to me because it shows,( as with how Don was) that being sick, or facing death - didn't mean being self absorbed, or sorrowful or dark - she still carried light with her. Mum was normally in laughter...she always saw the ridiculous in life ...and revelled in it...I have been so lucky to have such a mum. I still recall her telling me when I was about 9 not to be angry with people who were cruel because they were "just ignorant".... not bad for the mid 60's. And No mum was not part of the "blue rinse set" she had dark black /blue hair when we were kids - like many celts - and only faded a bit as she got older but retained the blue tinge...
