He didn’t go to his own mam’s funeral.
Margaret was born into a big family. She had four brothers and four sisters. Margaret was a beautiful girl but over the years it started to fade away. The things that went on in her family messed her up for life. A lot of the brothers went mad, some went to drugs, and some went to England. The sisters were just as bad, with Loraine becoming an alcoholic just like their dad. It’s sad because this wasn’t too uncommon, the big Catholic family that falls apart from abuse and drugs.
Margaret had her first child at 16, Layla-May. Then at 25 she had her son, Jay. Margaret and the father of her children did not get on well since he was an abusive alcoholic just like her dad and Margaret had gone to drugs. So, Jay and Layla grew up watching all of this.
The kids of addicts always go two ways. Either they pray they’re never like their parents and stay away from alcohol and any drugs, and they try to get a good job to go far from all of that, like Layla. Or they can end up like Jay.
Jay started early off smoking hash, which wasn’t too uncommon for 14-year-olds in Swords in the 90s. But he needed more. He could never smoke enough. So, he started coke. And after that, at a later stage, heroin. The thing about these addictions is that it’s very hard to get a job since you look so unwell. But you also need money to fuel the addiction, so Jay started to rob houses for the money after his mam kicked him out. He later got arrested and went to prison for 10 years.
His dad died while he was in prison. He only got to watch the funeral from the camera in the church. He was devastated he missed it. This is quite ironic.
In her old age Margaret was sober from drugs but still drinking. She would walk around Swords every day. One day she had gone to the doctor, and they had found out she had lung and liver cancer, and it was too far gone to try and get rid of it.
One week later she passed away in hospital with only her sister Marian and Marian’s children beside her. The last thing she talked about was how she was going to Ibiza the next month; she was so sure of herself.
Her funeral then came around. Layla flew in from England. Most of her brothers and sisters came. All her nieces and nephews, it was a huge family.
But Jay never showed. After leaving prison, he came into some money from his father’s death, and he went to the country and went straight back to heroin. He knew about the funeral; they asked him to go. He said he would. He never showed.
Nobody cried at Margaret’s funeral. She had been dead for years, just still walking around. Drugs do that to people. Jay’s now in the countryside dying bit by bit. And so, the cycle continues.
