I first met Hazel when my son Duncan was in the same nursery class as Euan at Watsons. The boys hit it off straight away and became firm friends as did Hazel and I.  We seemed to have the same values in life – the importance of family, a love of the outdoors (and dogs!) and a no-nonsense attitude (we laughed when we found out how much we mutually loathed going to the hairdressers!)  We found that we tended to go to many of the same places on holidays and we bumped into the Fyfe’s in Legoland, skiing in Flaine and then planned to be in the same places at the same time such as Aviemore, where the kids loved their day trips out to Landmark – apart from the time Euan & Duncan got stuck in the waterslide and had to be rescued! Hazel and I had been so busy chatting, we hadn’t noticed they had been gone for so long!  But the happiest memories are on the beach in Gairloch, when we were up at my in-laws cottage and Hazel, Allan and Euan – sometimes accompanied by Isobel and Sam – came up and stayed at Big Sands campsite.  Euan also stayed with us at the cottage for a week when Hazel was first diagnosed. The kids loved mucking about on the beach – using their wild imaginations to make seaweed burgers and crushed shells to make salt & pepper. The photo I have attached shows Hazel with a delicious seaweed burger!  I am writing this from Gairloch looking out at the beach – and wishing Hazel was back here with me.  Rhona x