Mrs Mackerel’s TFI Friday (3rd August)

After another clumsy week in which thankfully no animals or children were hurt in the making of, I have managed to emerge unscathed physically, but sadly not so the bank balance…

A lovely visit from nephew Harry is restorative and exhausting in equal measures. Exhausting managing four sprats, an over-affectionate hound, two cats (one that should be six feet under and not still crapping in my vegetables), three snakes (easy peasy), a rabbit seemingly made from Kryptonite, and work, dammit. Dammit, I’m going to be in trouble… late, late, late.

H, daughter sprat and I took a trip to the local market town so that H could make a memories box. I can’t imagine having anything so huge to process emotionally at the tender age of 12 than losing a parent. To watch him painstakingly make this box, and ask me how to make sure he could write Dad perfectly straight, and that the heart he wrote underneath Dad would be good enough was well… and yes sweetie, it’s absolutely perfect, just like you.

I have a memories box of my own, filled with almost all the ticket stubs of gigs I’ve been to over the years, special cards, trinkets, photos – you know the score. Some things become more special with time. But I know what this week has made me realise: even when your heart feels worn out, worn down, and emptied, someone else can just fill it up with a look, a gesture, a few well chosen words, or like Harry, a need. And I remember what my own Dad said to me many years ago, in a household where praise of any kind was hard won, and finally, I think I can accept the compliment.

Age has not yet withered this fragile heart.

Mrs Mackerel x

Music for the soul: the sublime vocals of Alynda Lee Segarra with Hurray For the Riff Raff and I Know You. And another favourite: Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan (Mackerel royalty) Honey Child What Can I Do?

Download Hurray For The Riff Raff – I Know You mp3 (from Young Blood Blues)

Download Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Honey Child What Can I Do? mp3 (from Honey Child What Can I Do? single)

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