Pudding

This is my cat who has featured in my blips before. She isn't really mine, she belongs to my long term lodger and long term Mum, erm.... Mum.

I think if you really want to get to know someone you have two options: you either work with them or live with them. Work on a regular basis with someone and you pick up their character and traits. Live with someone and you see them as they really are.

I can concur with this statement. I've lived with a few people and I know all of them very well. I've worked with a few different people and know enough to decide whether that person is welcome in my home or not.

However I have only lived AND worked with one person, and that is my Mum. I guess someone should know their Mum quite well anyway, but I've been treated to a real close up over the last few years.

Me and our kid (thehutch) have always had a strong sense of right and wrong where our parents are concerned, and we both appreciate them for what they are: people, prone to mistakes and weaknesses just like everyone else. My parents hold their hands up to the things they've done wrong in life, both always have. I learned from them to do the same: I can look back on my life and admit where I went wrong.

One place they didn't go wrong was bringing us up. It wasn't always easy, back in the eighties money didn't exactly fall off trees into the hands of the working class: times were hard. However there was always food on the table and presents under the tree at christmas.

The reason I have been getting all dewey eyed about the past is that this knowledge has meant that today has been a fairly upsetting day. Regular readers of my journal will know about the things that have happened recently, I've always been open about the things I'm going through.

However my Mum (knittingnancy) isn't. My Mum is a 'stiff upper lip' type when it comes to social networking. However in the last week she has been treated in an incomprehensible way by a man whom she actually respected and had worked for dedicatedly for twelve years. The same guy treated me badly in my opinion, but I'm 32 and at a stage where I can start again. My Mum doesn't feel the same.

This is madness though. I know everyone loves their Mum, but me and Paul really do: we know what sacrifices were made when we were kids and we both appreciate being as protected as possible from a harsh world while we were kids. We both turned into decent blokes I think (maybe a little cynical with mild tourettes) and we can thank our Mum and Dad for that.

So keep your chin up Mum, don't let some wankers people get to you because it will be alright. As a family we'll always have each other :)