What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
I met my late husband through a magazine article. I was working with my local MS Therapy Centre and we were sent a new magazine called Pathways and inside was an article from a really attractive man – my ideal, sort of hunky but with glasses. He was being winched into the rigging of a tall ship in a wheelchair! I was so impressed. He wrote about going scuba diving in the Florida Keys and having an adventure on the high seas and how it was all possible, you just had to find the right boat. It was such a difference in style from previous magazines I’d read that focused on a cure or making life safe, it was inspiring and I thought our members would love to hear about it. So I wrote to the magazine to ask permission to put a snippet in our own newsletter and added a note for Jerzy to ask if we could use his photo. Of course I added our email address just in case he’d like to write back. I just felt something when looking at his photo and thought ‘what the hell.’
Jerzy wrote back and I got a dial up internet connection so we could email each other. We messaged for three months and then graduated to a weekly phone call. Hearing his voice gave me goosebumps. After about two months of phone calls he asked if I’d go down to Milton Keynes and meet him in person. I wasn’t sure. He tackled that in the best way, instinctively. He told me we’d keep talking but the offer was always open. I was soon on my way to Milton Keynes. I felt so comfortable with him immediately. He was impressed with the way I handled a cab driver who nearly a had a heart attack as he clumsily transferred from the wheelchair and the aftermath of him knocking a full cup of coffee on the floor. I’m not phased by much. He asked me if I’d come down again in a fortnight to go to the ballet, the Northern Ballet Company’s interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. I was transfixed by it. I loved the dramatic black and red costumes and the freedom of a contemporary ballet. Late that night we were having a midnight breakfast – scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, coffee and Buck’s Fizz – and he commented on how natural it was to have me there. I agreed, we’d been comfortable from the first day. I knew. As simple as that. I knew I wanted this person to be in the rest of my life. He said ‘would marriage be out of the question?’
Eight weeks later we were married.
