I had the ex in laws here today. 1pm they said they would be here so I had dinner ready for then. They arrived at 1:40 having got a little delayed en route which is fine but they also insist on not having mobile phones and, even though they stopped off at a service station, it never crossed their minds to call!

It gets worse … ex mother-in-law spends some time looking at Jermaine and says:

“He don’t look right mate, I reckon give it another year and he won’t be with us”

What do you say to that? Actually, I could think of several things but somehow decided none of them were suitable! OK, lots of them were suitable but I didn’t want to go there.

Later she starts telling me how one day Jermaine is going to seriously hurt someone and there is no way we could be expected to cope, no one could (mate). She said:

“Why on earth do you want to delay him going into full time care? You would never forgive yourself if someone got seriously hurt by him and it could just be the best thing for you all”

OK, that was enough for me really so I said:

“He is my son, I don’t care if he is 2 or 18 he is my son and I love him and will do what is best for him. I am not the sort of person that says that he is 18 now so no longer my problem, he will always be my problem. I am quite capable of making sure the others are safe and it ain’t easy but we do cope, with very little help we cope. I am going to be the one that decides when the time is right and I am the one that knows what is best for MY family. You hardly ever see him, you seem to sometimes forget who he is.”

She did a short apology and then shut up about it until the next time.

Boy I wonder why I put up with this sort of thing at times.