Goodbye Ian

I must close my thinking about Ian in this space, but first to answer a question: Did he talk to anyone about us, and did they know why we did not see each other. Short answer to both is 'No' he never talked or shared why with his friends in Levin or Wellington; but then I have seldom talked about him either, for both of us there wasn't much to say.

A big regret that James and I have is that we didn't visit him, we had opportunity when we were in Wellington in February but did not think we would be welcome, we realise differently now and so those 2 saddest words in the English language come in, "If only ............................."

The final word is from Fiona Knox, our brother Robert's only child so a very significant person to Ian and I.

Fiona wrote:

i'm so sorry about Ian, i spent a very pleasant afternoon with him when i was last in NZ 10 years ago. We took the dogs down to the beach for a walk on a very rainy windswept day and put the world to rights. It was the first time i really spent any time with him (as an adult) and i thoroughly enjoyed his company. i do remember him saying that i looked a lot like Kitty, which was good to hear. I remember looking at him and thinking that although he did kind of remind me of dad in some ways, he came across much more like Granddad (Ken) - the strong silent type - sometimes its the things that you don't say that make a difference. He was very kind to me that day and i will never forget that.