As regular bloggees will know by now, Baggy has been in a bit of a mess since her stepmother passed away on December 30th. What you don't know, because Clever Bird hasn't really shared it with you, is that she was Baggy's Mum for over forty-seven years. Baggy's real Mama left Baggy's Dad when Baggy was just eight. Her Dad married her stepmother when Baggy was just nine and very unusually Baggy and her sister lived with their Dad and new "Mum". This wasn't the easiest transition for anyone, as you can imagine, but that was the situation. Baggy's Dad, who was very Victorian in his attitudes (your classic kind gentleman), no longer had to try to look after his two young daughters on his own. Spam, baked beans and Smash (instant mashed) potatoes followed by Angel Delight for tea, pretty much seven days a week, could not have carried on indefinitely. So until Baggy left home to do her first degree at age eighteen, Mum looked after her. So, it's not some woman that Baggy barely knew that has gone. It's a woman who was effectively Baggy's mother for the last nearly fifty years. Losing one Mum is hard enough. Losing two is a bit of a camel's straw, as it were.
Sadly, Mum had suffered from Alzheimer's for some time. Dad had looked after her on his own for years. He did a marvellous job. But being Victorian in his views, in his pride, he also hid her illness from everyone and would get no help. He started to confide in Baggy about how bad things were, some months before he passed away. But even then, he was not totally honest about it and it came as a terrible shock to Baggy and her sister once he had gone. So since Baggy's Dad died nearly four years ago, having tried and failed to get help so that Mum could continue to live at her own home, Mum has been looked after in a wonderful care-home and Baggy and her sister have been Mum's legal deputies. All very sad. Now, hopefully she is at peace and (knowing what she was like), is dancing around the clouds, decorating them so that they are more to her liking. Baggy will be glad when the funeral is over tomorrow.
So to say that Baggy was hurt today when she received a letter from a relative of Mum's first husband doesn't begin to cover it. They won't be coming to the funeral. They would like to be sent some valuable memorabilia though. No condolences that my sister and I have lost our "Mum". Yes, Baggy had another mini-meltdown. But this one was more pure fury than anything. How can people be so insensitive? Baggy is now on the wine (well champagne actually, as there doesn't appear to be a bottle of white wine in the house; loads of red, no white). Clearly deaths just bring out the worst in people. Baggy tries to be a lovely person, but sometimes she just needs to make an exception.........
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