Well! Yes I was asleep but woke around 2.30 as normal and read them all before going back to sleep around 4.00. Then woke to the music from The Proclaimers on Alexa at 8.00. You all seem to have had a great time last night, and what totally lovely photos! It was as lovely a time for me reading all the messages as you seem to have had telling your tales. You already know how our romance started. The lead up to that ‘date’ (which was more like me needing someone to come with me, so I wasn’t on my own, at the time of asking) is another story, which I’ll maybe share at another time.
We weren’t married in 1985, when we bought the new house together, with 8 living in a two bedroom house. Her father assumed I’d sleep in one room with the boys, Mary would share with the girls, and he and her mother would sleep on the sofas in what is now our dining room. Bad idea! Never assume where Mary is concerned! She put her foot down on that. “No Dad, you’re sleeping in with the boys, Mum is sleeping in with the girls, and Nigel and I are sharing the back bedroom”! Despite their strong Catholic faith, he didn’t really have a choice in the matter - Mary saw to that. As an only child, Mary could pretty much always get her dad, and mum, to do what she wanted. And I could do no wrong in their eyes - I’d been there to support Mary after the breakdown of her marriage, and had accepted both her mum and dad into my family, and to a house in which they now owned a half share, never having owned a property previously. We all slept on the mattresses for our beds which were on top of the new flat pack bedroom furniture we’d bought for everyone, for when the extension was finished. 10 months like that and not a single argument between any of us, kids included. We’d all taken a huge leap of faith getting together in one house. But it worked!
It took nearly 40 years for me to actually realise how much of this Mary and I had arranged, without seeming to ask the others about it all. I used the wake to say thank you to all the kids, for having just accepted things back then without question. I guess Mary did talk about it with her kids and parents, but my boys were still very young, and just needed some happiness back in their lives. I still see their sad eyes in photos taken after their mum had left us.
Enough! I’ll be crying soon! I’ll have another read through later in case I’ve missed anything.
Anyway, I hope you all had a good night, and that you have good days today. Plumbing starts this morning with diagnosing the source of the leak! That’s after fresh croissants and choc au pain and coffee!
I’m so pleased you all felt you could share memories of your weddings, and show more recent photos too. Your husbands all look like wonderful men, and I really think we’d have all got on well together. And yes, it was really nice to read all the fun things that happened, and to enjoy a bit of fun and laughter together too.
Much love to all of you. Nigel xxx
