Laura Beaumont thought making a will would be easy until it came to
deciding who should be the guardian of her 13 year old daughter,
Rosie ...
The other day I decided it was about time I made out a will.
There鈥檚 nothing wrong with me, as far as I鈥檓 aware, but I am knocking
on a bit and you never know what鈥檚 round the corner. Death may be the last great adventure but there鈥檚 a lot of paperwork you have to do before you set off. It involves selecting people from your friends and family, to look after
all the things you can鈥檛 take with you, all your worldly goods and
chattels...And considering I can鈥檛 even choose the right person to water my
plants when I go away for a weekend ...what chance to I stand?
Even more difficult than that .... You have to choose someone
from the aforementioned group of hobbledey hoys and ne鈥檈r-do-wells to
be your child鈥檚 guardian.
"Wait a minute," I thought: "how hard can it be? I鈥檝e got a bulging address book full of potential recipients of a well-adjusted girl child with thirteen years on the clock and two careful owners...I could even time-share her...but when you REALLY start looking, it鈥檚 a different story. Once you鈥檝e crossed off the ones that have died...the ones who are
going through traumatic divorces...the ones that have gone off to find themselves, the ones that have gone off to find someone else....the ones that don鈥檛 like children...the ones that like children a little too much....and the ones that are only listed as 鈥榯he man that does loose covers鈥�... You鈥檙e not left with a huge selection.
I do realise that if I was in my own address book I
wouldn鈥檛 even choose myself. I am the Eddie the Eagle Davies of mothers...even Oedipus wouldn鈥檛 have anything to do with me...
So whoever she ends up with will be better guardian material than
I am...even if it is the man who makes the loose covers.