Mum

21 years today since having told mum about dad, she quickly followed him.

2 parents both with their own unrelated terminal illnesses, one a workplace cancer, one that 12 people a year in the UK develop so is practically untreatable.

I've no idea why we bother buying lottery tickets as we've had our gazillion to one chance back in 2000.

Anyway, found these, and building on yesterday's theme of memories, and how we keep hold of them, I realise my blipping has generated significantly more pics already than I have of my parents.

This is mum, tiny mum in tiny prints, on holiday in Conwy, North Wales. She remained tiny only ever reaching 5ft.

Conwy is a place where I have always felt a connection with, and as a family we have spent many weekends there with our own children growing up. How does that work? Feels like it was passed on.

Mum was an only child, her dad died before she was married in 1967, her mum died when I was 4, 7 years later. There's little family on her side that we knew and none that we keep in touch with now. How quickly it all ebbs away.

I like these pics, they are pics that Instagram probably has a filter to make your own look this way. Little snapshots.

I like the pics of the granddad I never met, he looks like a good guy, and although I only have vague memories of my grandma but they are good ones.

By putting this in a blip, in the cloud, in 1s and 0s, it may live for many more years than any of these folks did. I hope so.