Nicola, Tony & Sam

It’s hard to know where to start…. so I am just going share a couple of memories I have.

I got to know Katie through my husband Tony’s friendship with Rich. As it turns out Katie and I had a love of reading a good book and writing in common.

Katie is the only friend of mine that has read a book I have written. Katie spent a lot of time giving me her invaluable advice and thoughts, even though she was so busy planning her big day. Her honest opinions and advice meant a lot to me and I told her so at the time. I had blacked out the acknowledgment page. I told Katie that it would be my way of saying thank you for all her help and she could read it if it was ever published. It saddens me that now she will never get to.

Unfortunately Tony and I missed Katie and Rich’s big day, as our son Sam was born the day before. However, I knew when Katie sent me a sneak preview of her beautiful wedding dress a month or so before that she would look absolutely stunning and I was right. The photo below is one I will always treasure. It was the last time I saw Katie, the day before she flew out on her honeymoon. Again, she still made the time, even though she admitted she hadn’t even packed, to meet my precious little boy and have a cuddle.

I am reminded of Katie often by silly little things such as Greys Anatomy (huge fans, we both had a cry at the start of series 6), Katie Fforde (both of us enjoying her talk for aspiring writers) and Facebook (Katie would nag me often to get signed into facebook stating I was probably one of only a handful of people on the planet not to have a log on). Katie and I had our last email conversation at the end of January 2010. Her email on 26th January told me she had a wonderful honeymoon with Iguazu Falls being her highlight. She ended her message letting me know that she would sort out some dates as she would love to catch up and show me her honeymoon snaps.

Katie – I still can’t believe you’re not here anymore. We had a girls catch-up and a friends 40th dinner recently and it felt like someone was missing. I hadn’t known you for long, not compared to some of your closest and oldest friends, but I am still very proud to have been able to call you my friend and even though it could be weeks before we caught up on email or in person, I still miss you and will never forget you.