Time passes ....

So much for our gilded youth. Fortyfour years on from our wedding, here we are in church again in the year 2000, after renewing our marriage vows. This was a rather unusual step to take in the circumstances, as we had been separated for 15 years and continued to live apart afterwards. However, we had remained good friends, neither of us forming another attachment, and wanted to demonstrate our continuing commitment to the family. I remember it took the minister a little time to get to grips with this idea!

All our children and grandchildren were present, including one family from Sydney, my husband's sister from Vancouver, and my own brother and sister-in-law and their children and grandchildren. I had so much wanted to dress up with a splendid hat for the occasion - I do look good in hats, they balance my nose - but my husband insisted on comfortable informal dress. So I contented myself with wearing the earrings I wore at my first wedding, which were my mother's.

The perfect touch was added to the day for me as we stood before the altar and the service began. A little hand slipped into mine and there was my only granddaughter, aged five and serendipitously dressed in red and black to match my outfit. She had decided that she wanted to stand up with me as my bridesmaid, and we stood holding hands throughout the ceremony, reinforcing the family bond which we were drawing close about us on that day.

(Don't you think my husband has gown more and more like John Gielgud as he has got older?)