[WillowTheWhisp]

When I was 10 I had a friend whose Dad died and she got to do all sorts of things like that. She even ended up being sent to a private school. Around the same time, my Dad had a stroke and was very severely disabled and unable to work. My Mum worked all the hours God sent and still tried to look after my Dad and me so our life was pretty grim. I know it sounds awful now but at the time I actually envied the girl whose Dad had died because to all intents and purposes my Dad may as well have been dead. He couldn't communicate with us or anything and needed looking after like a baby. My Mum had less time for anything and was always tired and in a bad mood because she had so much to do. Yet my friend's Mum got lots of help on account of being a widow and the children got free holidays. I suppose they had to select people somehow but to me at that age it always seemed that she was a lot better off than I was.