Eddy's Cherished Thoughts and Memories

I'd just like to ask that you all take a minute this coming Thursday May 26 to remember a dear dear sweet person, lady, wife, woman. I don't know what to put here, so put whatever you feel is right for you.

Not a day goes by without Cathy being in my thoughts. Even now that I am fully occupied with work, a new apartment and a new job it still seems like yesterday that I said good by to my sweety one last time, thinking that I'd be back in a couple of days and then we could go and buy those birch trees she wanted for the front garden (yard). Well we all know what happened and it still seems so unreal and unjust. A lot has happened in the past year. I sold the house on the coast. Just in time by some accounts, ice caps melting quicker than expected, the government are revising the costal protection plans as they are inadequate based on new evidence etc etc... I eventually landed a contract for EDS at ABN-Amro in London, so I'm back to commuting into the city each morning and am literally a stones throw away from where I started in computing. I purchased a small 2 bed apartment near to my mum and not that far from the last place Cathy and I had in the burbs. My new place is small, but perfectly adequate for this point in my life. I've just had the flooring replaced with an acia laminate wood flooring. Now for the kitchen, en-suite bathroom and then the painting of the entire place. That's the summer task on my books. The apartment is 2nd floor in a 3 storey block, with two small bedrooms, but a large kitchen and a large L shaped living room with floor to ceiling windows all along one wall, which lead to a balcony, so there is plenty of light and it's south-east facing, so I won't get the intense mid-day sun if we ever have any here. As this year has gone by I've had a lot of time to think about things and can only conclude that Cathy was and still is a shining example of all things good in people. She never wavered from doing good, she always cared about others first, she always agonised over getting things right and not causing any problems to anyone or thing, she was the best wife a man could wish for, the best driver I have ever known, a great cook for someone who's first words to me when we decide to get together were "I don't cook". She could and still doe make a mean Margarita. She introduced me to the Bynum happy hour ritual that became our Friday evening reason to just chill out and do nothing more than toasting a makers mark and 7 to George and my Dad. And now I find myself toasting all three of them which is so unreal.

My new address is
26 Florida Court, Westmoreland Road, Bromley, Kent BR2 0TR
Telephone number:- +44 (0)20 832 5162

Remember to have a margarita or two for Cathy on Thursday. I know it's what she would want and I'll be having a few to remember those wonderful days when we just had a very long happy hour for no reason at all other than to toast our departed fathers. Prost as we said in Germany and ever since.
Love to you all, Lots of Love,
Eddy
P.S. I've attached a few final photos of my Sweety, 3 from Shirley as we were moving out down to the coast and 4 from our garden on the coast as she began work on tidying it up ready for the onslaught she had planned for the summer of 2004.

Eddy, February, 2005

Here are photos I took the other day of the tree under which I buried Cathy's ashes. It is located in the grounds of West Dean College, where Cathy was thinking about going to take another gardening course. West Dean is where we first went when we came to live down here.(Click here or on the photo to see West Dean College photos.)

I've just finished packing the house contents that I am taking with me and there is a lot more than I expected. However during the process of sorting through things and unpacking boxes that we never managed to unpack I began to split everything 3 ways: Stuff I want to keep, stuff that Family and Friends may want and stuff for good causes. Well a series of coincidences have happened over the past couple of weeks that I thought might bring a smile to your faces. When I started all this it was just after the tsunami and the charities were calling our for any help they could get, so I donated a lot of Cathy's clothes to them. Every one the I donated to said that they will be able to make good money from reselling them as they were such good quality and popular. Cathy would have been happy to hear this. So, I donated to the PDSA (peoples dispensary for sick animals), The British Heart Foundation and Oxfam. All were very pleased.

Secondly, I sorted through a lot of Christmas boxes and kept the things that mean most to me and donated the rest to an add I heard on the radio. It was from a local publican, Sarah who was collecting brick-a-brac for a charity auction to raise money for the local animal sanctuary, So, another good cause dear to my sweetys heart. The pub where I dropped things off today is called The George.

Thirdly, I sold the snooker table on Ebay for 1 penny, as after calling numerous second-hand dealers none of them were even interested in taking it away let alone paying me. The person that bought it is a German, living in France and his closest city is Saarbrucken. The irony of this is that Cathy and I never felt more at home than in Germany, we were planning to buy a place in France and on one of our many trips from Munich to London by car we broke down in Saarbrucken and just loved the place. I am sure that most of you have had a glass of wine out of the green stemmed typical German wine glasses. Well my sweety bought these in Saarbrucken.

Yes I have sold the house, but it's not confirmed in England until we Exchange signed contracts. This should happen the week of the 7th March if all goes to plan. And if plans go well I will be physically out of this place by March 31st.

I sold one of the two cars yesterday, the Suzuki for a good price. It was not my intention to sell this one first, but plans and plans is all I can say.

Sorry for such along note, but I thought I'd like to get it down on paper (virtual) so as not to forget it and writing to you guys is the best thing I can do.
Love to you all,
Eddy

Eddy, February, 2005

I sold one of the two cars yesterday, the Suzuki for a good price. It was not my intention to sell this one first, but plans and plans is all I can say.

Sorry for such along note, but I thought I'd like to get it down on paper (virtual) so as not to forget it and writing to you guys is the best thing I can do.
Love to you all,
Eddy

Eddy, February, 2005

Attached are some pictures I took the other day of the tree under which I buried Cathy's ashes. It is located in the grounds of West Dean College, where Cathy was thinking about going to take another gardening course. West Dean is where we first went when we came to live down here. We went to their Fall Apple fest and sampled quite a few native and surprisingly American varieties.(Click here to go to the photos.)

Eddy' New Year's thoughts to share

Dec 26 2004 was 7 months since that eventful day. It did not go by without me shedding a tear for my sweet departed Cathy. I spent a quiet, but nice Christmas with my Mum. It was not the same without my sweety pie. Mum really misses her. I visited by old school friend over the holidays (in the UK we had the 28th and 29th off as well) and had a good time with him and his family, but once again it was not the same without Cathy. As time has gone by I have begun to realise that memories are the most precious thing we can have. I remember the mock tears that Cathy always did when she screwed up on something and the laughter when we would watch Freddie Frinton on New Year's Eve on German TV. If I can get a copy of the 30 minute sketch show I'll post it on this site for people to download. It's hilarious.

What I have learnt over the past few months is that nothing is set in stone. By all means go ahead and plan, but don't expect it to work out exactly as planned. God will always trip you up in some way to bring you back to reality. We all need to keep our focus on the immediate future and not drift off into a fictitious future only to be disappointed when it does not happen. Cathy and I always made plans, but we never lost focus on tomorrow. That's how I still lead my life and how I have managed to stay sane of the past 7 months. There is no way in hell that I would have ever thought that God would make the 26th such a day to remember. It's a holiday in the UK and Europe and is the second day of Christmas in our calendar and Christmas was so dear to my toones. I miss her dearly and would do anything to have her back, but that's not in my power, so I will have to live with those precious memories of a woman who was so full of life, so caring for all around here near and far, so loving and so so much fun. I love you my sweety pie and will forever.

If you would like to donate to a cause in her name, Eddy requested, The Denver Symphony, any cat care society, or any Heart Association.

Eddy

Cathy and I were out shopping one Saturday in our favourite part of Munich, Maximilianstrasse and all those high class stores when we came across a pair of Baccarat wine glasses that we just loved. However, at DM 250 or 300 each we decided that there must be another place to buy these a bit cheaper. I must have been having a good day as Cathy was never dissuaded by price alone.

So, we went home and looked on the map for the village of Baccarat. It was just over the border in France and so we decided that next Saturday we will get up early and drive there for the weekend. So, the following Saturday we headed off early at 6am heading west to Baccarat. It took some 8 hours with stops every 2 hours to do you know what. When we arrived we soon found the glasses and purchased them for some 30% cheaper, so the trip was worth the time and effort. However, it was getting late and neither of us fancied the drive back, so we decided to check into a hotel somewhere. Now there were no hotels that we fancied in Baccarat, so we headed back the way we came and stopped in Luneville as we had heard about a restaurant that was worth doing. We checked in to the hotel and went down to the bar for a Kir. We then wandered around town looking for the restaurant. This was not difficult as the town was basically strung out along the main road. So, having found the recommended restaurant we went in and asked for a table. To our surprise there was one available and we sat down to a 3 hour meal. I can't remember what we ate, but it was very good. I think I had steak and Cathy had fish. We had a bottle of wine between us and an aperitif, another Kir except this time it was a Kir Royal. The meal was 5 courses and between each we waited quite a while.

At one point there was shouting coming from the kitchen. We later found out that the owner's husband was the chef and the owner was the head waiter. It seems that the chef had dropped something and was cursing everything and one around him for this. As the meal was dragging on Cathy and I were talking more and more about us and how we just got on so well and enjoyed the same things. Anyway, eventually we finished and headed back to the hotel.

It was a nice warm summer evening and by the time we arrived at the hotel I had decided that this was the time to propose. We went to our room and began to get ready for bed. It was at this point that I proposed. Cathy made me get down on one knee and do it again "properly" as she said. Needless to say Cathy accepted and we broke open the champagne in the mini bar to celebrate with our new Baccarat glasses. We've never tasted such good champagne before or since. Cathy said that she thought I was going to propose in the restaurant and that everyone in there did as well.

The next morning we had breakfast and then wandered again through town to see it by day light. Nothing to write home about. Just a typical French village run down on the outside and 21st century on the inside. The drive home was uneventful and the planning began for our wedding in Denver at the Phipps Mansion. That's another story for later.

Eddy

We invite you to share your thoughts and photos of Cathy. You can send them via e-mail and digital photos in jpg or the old fashion way, by letter and postal service. We promise to return all photos in the same condition received.