Remembering Joan
Joan was the most wonderful partner, friend, mum and grandmother we could ever have wished for.
Holly, Sam and I are all together now, doing our best to smile through the tears and to focus on all the good things she brought into our world. There are so many.
Fate has a strange way of working. As many already know, I’d come off my bike in India and hurt my shoulder. Joan was recovering from her own back injury in hospital in England. In the way life sometimes surprises you, I found myself moved to a room just down the corridor from her. We laughed together about how typical it was of us to end up on the same floor, like love-struck teenagers delighted to find each other again.
We had a lovely lunch that day. She was in positive spirits and getting stronger. She smiled at me, that radiant smile that lit up her whole face, the same smile I fell in love with the very first moment I saw her, half a century ago. Then suddenly, she was gone, quickly and painlessly. And thankfully, I was right by her side. It brings us all great comfort to know we were together.
What an incredible final year we all had together. Her beautiful 80th birthday celebration at Kasbah Tamadot in Morocco, surrounded by her closest friends; Sam’s 40th celebrations onboard Virgin Voyages; countless moments where she was beaming with happiness. She lived so fully and joyfully, always thinking of others, always lifting everyone else up. To see her so happy in those last months is something we will treasure forever.
Life will never be the same without her. But we have fifty incredible years of memories - years filled with tears and laughter, kindness, and a love that shaped our family more than words could ever capture. It was a relationship that worked. We just had lots of laughs. We were very lucky.
We are devastated she is gone. But I am far more grateful for the extraordinary gift of the life we shared - with our remarkable kids, Sam and Holly, and our wonderful grandkids, who adored her (and her sweets!) just as deeply as I did.
Joan was my everything, the shining star around which our family’s universe has always orbited. That light is not gone; it’s just taken on a new shape. It will guide us forward. And we will carry her with us, always.