Better not to

When Mum was dying Marshall met her for the first time in his memory. I thought he was very brave to visit her, but he wanted to. She gave him such a piercing look. Our Uncle Charlie, who was with us said, “She must think you are Jack, your father”. Charlie thought Marshall resembled Dad in his younger days.

Stories for my Grandchildren, Isobel Spence

My mother says that when Marshall came back he was a little shell-shocked: "an old woman with no teeth," he said. He had never met her before in his memory. Perhaps if he wanted a flattering image of his mother he shouldn't have gone at all.