My mother, the pragmatist, advised “well’ done you, remember don’t use it all up put some aside.”
“It’s useful.”
“It is that.”
A concession from my mother, who rarely admitted to such feelings.
“It’s my upbringing” she said.
Once.
My mother’s gone now. She declined treatment politely.
“No need for rudeness”
A pragmatist always.
She left me a legacy, the one about the dignity that comes with independence.
And every fortnight I am reminded of her and her and her modest ways and the way she didn’t stop me looking forward to payday.