I met Derek when we were 18, two northerners in London at College. We were friends for a year before we actually went out together. From then on, there was no-one else for me. After about a year, we went on a very soggy camping holiday in Devon and I was such a pain that Derek tried to finish our relationship. A dear friend reminded me last week how hard I fought for him that night. I borrowed money from all our friends and took him out and got him drunk. It worked and we have been together for the next 45 years. We were the first of our friends to marry and the first to have our two beautiful children, Jamie and Natalie. Derek and I have been so lucky. We wanted the same things from life It has been wonderful being his partner through life. I am going to be lonely without him but he will always be with me as he always has been.