Yesterday was the anniversary of my amazing stepfather William finally losing his battle with Cancer. I know how too often Step parents get a bad press and, obviously some may be deservedly so.

However, I was one of the really lucky ones and had the love of a great man for some fifteen years and he couldn’t have been kinder or more supportive of myself and my siblings had he been our ‘real’ dad. When he died my mother bought me a garden bench and, some thirty years on, this weekend it is boasting a few coats of cream paint having changed colour many times. It is not a valauble bench but it is more a case of what it represents.

Whilst painting it I remembered a fun painting session I had with him in my mid twenties when he was helping me paint my kitchen in my flat. I stuck my foot in the paint tin and after a few hours of him experiencing my inadequate decorating skills he suggested mum and I left him to it and went shopping!

As I say and write often;the bereavement journey is a long one and it does get easier, his struggle with cancer and his eventual death I found extremely tough at the time…but now I can just remember his love and his great s.o.h.

We keep our loved ones alive in our hearts for certain.