“Crawford and I are enjoying a hotly-contested game of tiddlywinks when Dad arrives to announce that dinner is ready. We make our way through to the dining room and take our seats at the old mahogany table, which is full of food. We all spend the obligatory few seconds oohing and aahing over the wonderful job Dad’s done, before tucking in. Within five minutes, the room is alive with conversation. To my left, Sophie is trying to decide which fictional world she would most like to live in, while at the other end of the table, Pete is holding forth to my parents about something that appears to involve salt, pepper, and both his forks. Across from me, Crawford is complaining loudly that the sauce on his pasta’s the wrong colour, and Rose is rattling off the impressive list of things that’ll be taken away from him if he doesn’t eat it. Ellie, bless her, is oblivious. She’s planted in her booster seat beside Rose, and most of her pasta is on her face or in her lap.” FamilyFoodEatingDinnerFamily RelationshipsFamily Life Book:A Matter of Life and Death Source: A Matter of Life and Death
“There’s no need to look so glum,’ my mother says. ‘Cheer up a little, won’t you?’ When my mother gives an order, it’s best to follow without question. Lorraine Halliday is a woman the winds and tides obey. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say, swallowing down my emotion. ‘I’ll be stronger.’ ‘I should think so. These things happen when you get old, Tom. I’m no spring chicken, you know.’ ‘You’re sixty-four,’ I say. My mother considers this for a moment. ‘Well, I feel old.” DeathFamilyOld AgeDeath And DyingMothersDeath Of A Loved OneFamily Relationships Book:A Matter of Life and Death Source: A Matter of Life and Death
“Well,’ my mother says the next day as I arrive by her bedside with a fresh pot of tea. ‘What should we do?’ I look at her, puzzled. ‘Do?’ Until now, I thought we’d spend our time together doing very little, or nothing at all, and that I’d be miserable, although I’d hide it and deny it. I imagined, in other words, that we’d see one another, as we always have, across a divide. ‘The rain seems to be holding off for now,’ my mother continues, glancing out of her window. ‘Perhaps we could take a walk in the garden?’ ‘You think you can walk?’ ‘No. But there’s a wheelchair on the back porch. Do you feel fit enough to push me around?’ ‘Well,’ I say, brightly. ‘That would certainly make a nice change.’ My mother snaps her head around and glowers at me. Confused, I replay the final lines of conversation in my head, then panic. ‘No, no,’ I say, backtracking. ‘I meant a nice change from being holed up in the bedroom.’ My mother continues to regard me with her penetrating stare. ‘Of course, you did,’ she says, drily.” MotherFamilySonParentingFamily Drama Book:A Matter of Life and Death Source: A Matter of Life and Death
“I’m not surprised to find Dad and I tiptoeing around the edge of conversation. After all, we’ve never spent a great deal of time discussing affairs of the heart. I had classmates at school who had startlingly candid exchanges with their fathers, frequently settling down on their living room sofa to confer on relationships, sex, drugs and mental health. The nearest my own father ever came to opening up about relationships came a few weeks before my twelfth birthday, when I awoke to find a copy of ‘The Joy of Sex’ by my bedside. Inside, Dad had written Any questions, just ask! in a jaunty script, but I think we both sensed that at least one of us would die of embarrassment if we were ever to have the conversation, so I never followed up on the offer and, mercifully, neither did Dad.” FamilyParentsParenthoodFatherhoodParents And ChildrenFather And Son Book:A Matter of Life and Death Source: A Matter of Life and Death
“You have a plaster on your head,’ my mother says. ‘Oh!’ I say, flushed with relief. ‘Yes. I walked into a table.’ ‘With your head?’ Ah. Good point. ‘Actually, it was a door.’ My mother smiles thinly. ‘Of course, it was.” HumorFunnyFamilyHumourHumorousParentingMotherhoodMother And Son Book:A Matter of Life and Death Source: A Matter of Life and Death