Where do I start? The first time I set eyes on my future Mother in Law was at Clare & Julian's wedding.  I was Chris' new girlfriend and it was quite nerve wracking to meet his family and friends on such a big occasion. Upon arrival at Margie & Malcy's house in Husbands Bosworth, I was greeted by a beaming Margie who said "Gosh you're brave" and I was handed a Gin & Tonic.  I was instantly made to feel at home and never looked back.  It was the start of a special relationship, one that I will cherish the memories of for the rest of my life.  

Margie instantly became 'Granny' to 3 year old Guy, a role that she took like a duck to water and seemed to relish.  There was always so much fun involved for Guy when we visited. The first time he met his new 'Granny' was early March and we had a BBQ in their conservatory (I can still remember Malcy standing out in the cold under a big umbrella cooking the food)!  There were always lots of games involved not just for Guy and I think she enjoyed them just as much - the warmer/colder game, charades, cricket, dressing up, tacky toys with flashing lights and much more! On one of the trips she proudly (whilst laughing her head off saying in one of her funny accents... 'there was no expense spared') produced a bike she'd obtained from the tip and taught Guy to ride it.  This was Granny to a tee.

Just before Mollie was born, Margie and Malcy brought their caravan down to East Sussex and parked in our garden so they could be on hand but not 'too interfering' as Margie put it.  Margie cooked a sausage casserole the night I went into labour and looked after Guy whilst Chris and I were in hospital.  When we got home with Mollie, it was a special time and I remember being invited over to dinner in their caravan.  I seem to recall we had spaghetti bolognese, one of her caravan meal favourites and naturally a few glasses of wine. There is a lovely photo of Mollie, Granny and I in the caravan; I am feeding Mollie with a milk bottle and Margie is holding my wine glass so I can take a sip at the same time, which she and I found most amusing. I must find that photo and upload it.

There are too many precious happy memories of times spent together, alot of them involving boats and funnily enough a glass of wine! In all the 20 years of knowing Margie we only fell out once for about half an hour - she and I had different views on how to make the turrets on Mollie's princess birthday cake!!!! The remaining 19 years 364 days and 23.5 hours we laughed, chatted and sometimes I would insult her jokingly and she'd jokingly insult me back and we'd laugh again. 

We did holidays with Margie & Malcy boating down the Thames, the Norfolk Broads, Sailing in Greece and more recently after Malcy died various trips around the Solent.  The last trip we did with Margie was last summer when she was well enough to come away for a weekend and we went to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.  It was one of those weekends where the weather was just beautiful and true to form, she was game for jumping in our dingy so we could get to a beach and swim. Oh did we both roar with laughter when she fell out of the dingy and landed in the shallow water with all her clothes on!

I could go on and on...but I can hear her saying 'sausages' which was code word for 'I've heard this all before'. 

I will miss the friendship, love and fun that she brought to our lives but will cherish the memories and feel lucky to have known this wonderful, very special lady.  

xxxxx