Life goes on

What a week - rain, rain and more rain, grey skies and today cold winds so it was not surprising that early Tuesday morning was the first opportunity to visit Simon’s grave. The sheep had been selectively nibbling the flowers but otherwise all was neat and tidy and it was good to greet the farmer, as he arrived to feed his sheep and deal with the new lambs that had been born overnight in neighbouring fields. His farm, None-go-bye, was studied by my geography GCSE group more than ten years ago so I know it well. He had dairy cattle then but like many Dales farmers he sold his dairy herd because it was no longer commercially viable to keep it.

I continue to receive cards, letters, emails and flowers. Two emails came from ladies I have never met but who have been following the blog. These were particularly poignant as Brenda and Sonja are on the MSA journey too. I wish I could visit them and give them a big Yorkshire hug.

It has been really good to get back to work this week, especially as it involved delivering training for a group of fantastic teachers from schools who all have Global School Partnerships with schools in the Mongu district of Zambia. Having three of the head teachers from the link schools in Zambia also doing the training in Selby made it very special and for the whole day I didn’t think about the events of the past month but I missed chatting to Simon when I got home.

One of Simon’s most faithful and responsive blog followers is Joanna, a friend from the early years of our marriage when we lived in New Lanark, Scotland. She has sent me her thoughts and I think they make a fitting finale to this week’s blog.

I have heard people saying that someone they knew had shown them the way to die and I have always been unconvinced until now.

Simon made me look at several things differently as I was growing up:

• Art maybe? He was my Art Appreciation teacher at Lanark Grammar school briefly!
• Relationships – Simon and Liz - romance in grownups! Goodness, I thought us teenagers were the only ones
• Curries – our trip to Bradford remains David’s “best curry” story 25 years on           
• The value of beautiful objects

And now this.

I am glad Simon didn’t take his illness without anger. I respect his outrage!

I am glad Simon kept his sense of humour. I loved reading about the medical profession getting teased and put in their place.

I am so glad we met up in February and had the pleasure of walking around the ceramics exhibition and seeing that sparkle was still there in his eyes.

I am so glad I was able to speak to him about my family and, despite his difficulties with his speech, get reassurance from what he said.

So about the way to die…..

He made us all pay attention and be outraged with him - Quite right.

He made us all think about our relationships with him and how to show how much we valued them – Thank you.

He kept us feeling fully informed of what would come next and then slipped away quietly, leaving us feeling astonished – Well done Simon.