Yes, for those who notice such things, I know the apostrophe would normally be after the ‘s’, though you could argue that most of us have just one mother – if you discount Nature, which of course any man does at his peril. Anyway, for me it was both sad and uplifting this weekend when, having decided to throw out some old paperwork, I found the transcript of the tribute, which I wrote for my Mum and read at her funeral in 2010. If you’re watching, Mum – though frankly, I’m sure you have much better things to do – we all miss you and are thinking about you today.
On which topic: in their rush to cash in on everyone’s respective love, guilt or sense of resigned duty, I wonder if the card/chocolate/flower/soft toy marketeers ever stop to consider the impact their incessant badgering might have on anyone who has recently lost their irreplaceable Mum. Let me stress at this point, I’m not saying ‘Poor me’. We all loved our Mum dearly, but she never had time for all that ‘commercial crap’, appreciating far more the time taken by her children just to remind her they loved her. BUT – if there is anyone out there struggling with the loss, the constant reminders may well be hard to take. What I’m suggesting is that the marketeers should just try to be a bit more restrained, or make allowance by appearing just a little less frenzied. Who knows: even if they were just to remind people to pause to remember, on the day, that others might be feeling blue, it would be the classic case of a little kindness going a long way.