Mum said she wanted to come up to see Jamie Oliver, I've given up on telling her they were two different cats and that Oliver died years ago, sometimes it's easier to say nothing. She then said that after her cat Tammy died it had broken her heart, but she soon came to realise that the only way forward was to have another cat, but at the time my Dad was having none of it. Of course their marriage was not a dictatorship, but I guess it's a generation gap and a very old-fashioned way of living, man says no wife goes along with it for a quiet life. Steve and I don't live like that, neither of us could. To me that was not an equal partnership, there should always be give and take and the needs of your partner should be considered equally, or even above your own. Now, of course she admits there is great regret, now she is on her own, having that cat she craved a few years back would mean she would now have a middle-aged cat with her to give her the company she so needs. Sad all round really isn't it. 
Today would have been my dad's 79 birthday, it's funny how we clashed so badly when I lived at home, but we never had a cross word after I left home in 1991. I was always going to have a mind of my own, to do my own thing. Mum used to say if she told my brother not to do something, he wouldn't, if she told me not to do it then I'd do it to see what the consequences were, so I guess Dad and I were going to rub each other up the wrong way in those early years! He was such a clever academic, man. Me? Well not so but I've managed to do what I want and get where I want to be. Happy Birthday Dad, thinking about you today and every day.
