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Terry's Page

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 4 months ago

Terry's Page

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On this page:

From Our First Date...

Today is a good day...

Lyrics, "Brown Toes", by Nick Robertshaw

Nick and Terry, Cape Henlopen

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December, 2007

From our first date in 1976 we knew we were hooked!!! Our love developed quickly and we knew that this is what we both wanted ...forever!

That date was at the Royal Festival Hall in London, listening to Sir Michael Tippet conducting the London Philharmonic. Being a working girl from the suburbs, I didn't get to London very often so was not completely tuned in to it's geography. So whilst descending the stairs to leave, I noticed very wet reflections outside the huge windows of the Festival Hall!!! I said to Nick "Gosh, we must have had a huge amount of rain whilst we were in there " ..... he responded " That my dear, is the Thames."

Terry and Nick That was the first of what was to become a life time of lessons. He gently persuaded me to experience all manor of life's joys, all with his endless and all consuming passion. He was my personal www before the internet was ever dreamed of. This great passion of his drove his desire to understand the world we inhabit and was a life long personal quest. I was the lucky girl who shared his journey.

Nicky always woke up smiling. His eyes would say "Wow, another day!!" He would then pull me into his arms for our morning cuddle, a beautiful daily ritual that endured more than thirty years. We would then get out of bed to start the day and he would begin singing...I never knew what I was going to get...it could be a temperance song his mother had taught him as a boy, or some Mick Jagger, or maybe Queen...... sometimes in was a Gilbert and Sullivan song from a production that we had performed together, and on those days, I would sing along, often taking an hour or two until we had sung the whole thing!!!! His repertoire was enormous and ever growing. I often heard songs that I was sure I had never heard before!

Nicky loved to surprise me, and over the years there were many, all planned and prepared with cryptic clues. Trips when I wasn't told where we were going, only what to pack. Dates to look forward to that would suddenly appear on the calendar, like the last one that said 'date me?' That last date was a trip to Washington to see Cirq de Soliel, and as always he carefully planned his driving route and parking spot so the surprise wouldn't be given away till the last possible minute. His carefully laid plans always produced shrieks of excitement from me, and he just loved that!!!!

During our early years together before coming to the states, we were often the lucky recipients of tickets to the ballet in London. Nick's Mother was at that time working for "The Illustrated London News" and was given more 'comps' than she could use. We so loved those nights out as being poor newlyweds, this sort of entertainment was out of reach, so such a treat. Once we moved to Northampton we discovered our local repertory theatre, and soon became acquainted with the company. The Rep, was a very affordable form of live theatre so we often went along blind and just took in whatever they were doing that night.

Wherever we lived there was always the Morris and Nicky's concertina. Every team he danced and played with brought along many friends that have endured through the years. His concertina was one of his great passions and he relished it. It was so in character for him to choose the Jeffries Duet as his instrument, being one of the most difficult to master, and master it he did.

Then, through Plessey Microsystems, came this opportunity to live in the States for two years! Wow, another adventure to be grabbed with both hands!!! We fell in love with this place and all the new and wonderful friends that we made, and then the greatest gift of all, our darling boy!!

Nicky, ever evolving, took on the role of 'daddy' as easily as pulling on a cloak. His unique relationship with Thomas has been the envy of many of Thomas's friends.........our house has always been full of young people just loving to hang out with him. They were such buddies!

Over the last five years or so, I have had to learn to live without my daily dose of Nicky. His work commitments kept him in DC for two or three nights a week and often involved travel, so huge adjustments had to be made. Marriage is always an evolutionary process and compromises have to be made, but his coming home was always a celebration, and our weekends planned for fun. Catching sight of him above a crowd always took my breath away, and then he would sweep me up in his arm........coming home, the best bit!!!!

During this time the 'play day' was invented. This was a planned event, marked on the calendar and sacrosanct!! No cooking, no chores, no 'honey dos' just play. Nicky's medium of late was fimo clay and studied with his usual passion. Invariably mine was glass mosaic, which I would nip away at with gay abandon.....Nicky's eyebrows would meet in the middle in a little scowl as he would move his chair further away to save his clay from glass shard contamination ......such fun days!!!. Often Frances would join us on those days, and on one memorable occasion Thomas and some friends noticed how much fun we were having and joined in.....the art that was produced on those magical days is proudly displayed in our garden and will always evoke memories of those special days.

On the rare occasions that we would wake to a day with no commitments, I would ask "What would you like to do today" and he would always respond "Make you happy". I would tell him that he always does, and he would say that nothing else mattered. To be loved by this man was to be treated like a princess. I believed that all mirrors should be destroyed and the only way you could see yourself was through the eyes of your lover......

He was the love of my life, my grand passion, best friend and partner in all things, and as long as I live his heart will forever beat in mine. I miss him more than mere words can describe.

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November 20, 2007

Today is a good day ......I have just found a song I thought was lost....... Nicky wrote this for me a few years ago after a wonderful weekend spent with Tom and Debbie. I thought that this song had not been written down anywhere and was lost, and it made me very sad not to have it....... I also knew that he hadn't sung it on many occasions so was pretty sure there was nothing out there. But after going through some of my own trash, as opposed to Nicky's !!! I found it....... So this is how it came to be...... On this particular day in August, we were floating around Tom and Debbie's pool, having drunk rather a lot of very wonderful margaritas........I was bemoaning the fact that we were not going to be getting any winter sun that year, and my summer browned toes would turn pale and ugly........ I thought the most exotic thing a girl could ever ask for was to have brown toes all year long so, my wonderful, loving and truly amazing husband wrote me this......

It is a calypso called Brown Toes.

In the Northern countries it rains and snows

We got de blizzard and gale

Don't make your lady friend stay there all year

Cause her toes are going to turn pale.