I used to judge my mother's gambling addiction. Now I think she was longing for a fairytale ending

"My mother, Margaret, died in 2018 at 75. It was a good death, all things considered. The very end was savage, as endings often are, but she was in her own home and on her own two feet until the final week. For a woman who'd smoked two packs a day all her adult life, who'd never exercised or even walked to the shops, who refused to drink water (I'd spew!) and lived on Coca-Cola, pate on toast, jubes and green olives from a jar"

"Lee is also better with money than me, but I thought I should at least attempt to help so at the end, I took charge of Mum's bank accounts. She lived on the pension and died with a run-down brick veneer villa unit in an over-50s complex, an old car worth close to nothing, and a small amount of cash. We were surprised she'd left that much."

Margaret died in 2018 at age 75, remaining at home and largely independent until her final week. She smoked two packs daily, avoided exercise, and ate a restrictive, sugary diet centered on Coca-Cola, pate on toast, jubes and jarred olives. Her daughter took charge of bank accounts near the end and found only a run-down villa unit, an old car and a small amount of cash, despite fifty years of steady full-time work and previously owning a larger home. The principal drain on savings came from sustained gambling activity focused on dog and horse tracks.

Read at www.theguardian.com