2005 is 20 years ago, which seems unbelievable. The changes in the seasons tell me it’s September, the way the sun is in the sky, the chilly mornings but still sunny days, the sunflowers in the shops and in peoples’ gardens, they were his favourite flower, the swifts have migrated now, we used to watch them flying in the skies over our house in July and early August. Ian’s birthday is soon after, on 16th September. I still think about Ian every day, remembering the wonderful and happy times we shared, the things we did, the places we went, remembering something Ian would have said or done, remembering his opinions.
Always remember: “Every minute you spend unhappy is another sixty seconds of happiness you can never get back.” ​Some time ago I found a suggestion, to create a new memory to sit alongside this one. As the years go by we have a few new memories….Ian has three great-nieces and three great-nephews.

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Ian lived all his life with a congenital heart condition called Ebstein’s Anomaly. Ian never let his condition get in the way of what he wanted to do – he was always going to do it anyway. He always said, “there are people in the world worse off than me”. Ian had such a love of life and a tremendous respect for life, nature and the world around him. I knew Ian for fourteen years, and of those, we were married for nine years, but I believe we experienced more love, laughter and happiness than many people are lucky enough to experience in an entire lifetime.