How do I begin to talk about Peter ? A stepdad whom we were delighted
to welcome into our lives and our family 21 years ago when he met Mum at a dance class. He fitted in perfectly and not only accepted all of us but actually seemed delighted with his ready-made family ! In the beginning he spent a lot of time observing but as he got to know us all better, each one of us with our  characters and funny ways, he blossomed and loved to debate things and tease Jordan and Christian with tales of how he lost his finger ! Apparently, on this subject, he one day sent his nephews to look for it in the garden and promised them a pound if they found it... They never did but generous to a fault he gave them the pound anyway ! He loved to match our humour, he and Mum were perfectly matched and laughed over silly things for hours as they bounced off each other's jokes.  
We had many holidays together,  several in France
and at least one in Italy and one in Spain where we were usually with groups of friends of mine (sometimes up to 14 people) ! Peter loved being part of a crowd and everyone loved him. He was a "people person", always interested in others, asking questions and, even though he never believed me on this one, he was a great conversationalist. He really knew how to listen to people. He was also very modern in his way of thinking and remained interested in technology, trying to understand how everything worked. Then Mum & Peter discovered cruising and seemed to be forever sailing the high seas, sometimes we only just about knew which continent they were on ! He loved taking my nephews Jordan & Christian out for the day with Mum when they were little and spoiling them rotten. A trip further afield included a holiday with them to Disneyland Paris where we all had a magical time. It was during this trip that we took Peter on his first roller coaster ride, never again ! 
There
were also their much loved weekends at the caravan in Llangollen with their circle of friends, Shirley and Ronnie, our closest family friends since forever, Mo and Frank and Harry and Eileen being the main ones. At one stage Graeme owned the caravan next door and they loved nothing more than being surrounded by their family and our extended circles of friends. There was usually at least one French person in residence and Peter loved discussing different cultures and introducing them to his own culture (Patrick thought "Guinness time" at 4 p.m a particularly interesting one and so much better than the traditional English tea-time) !  Long summers came and went and we had some memorable parties, including my 50th where Peter told the guests that the Montgolfière balloon festival and the fireworks to end the festival had been laid on by him for the sole purpose of celebrating my birthday as "You don't worry how much it costs when it is for people you love". The funny thing was that some people actually believed him and I felt like Richard Branson !
There were also our holidays in Northern
Ireland which we loved. Peter's extended family, the Larne connection, became part of our family as well and Sandra and her daughters Alison, Caroline and Nicola, her sons-in-law Tony and Raymond and the "wee'uns",  Rachael-Anne, now a young lady but we had the pleasure of seeing her blossom from a little girl, Tom, Emellie and Hollie played an important part in Peter's life (and ours as well). 

Peter had a
great sense of humour and could make everyone laugh with his dry, Liverpool humour (when they could understand what he was saying that is) ! Everyone loved him and once people met him they didn't forget him. He could be so easy going but could also be very stubborn, when he said "no" he meant it (although he often changed his mind 5 minutes later) !
The
last couple of weeks of Peter's life were a very special time. He didn't believe he was coming home from hospital where he was desperately unhappy.  With no visitors, due to Covid, he thought his family had abandoned him, but he should have known us better than that ! All the time  we were working tirelessly behind the scenes to "spring" him. The day he came home he was overwhelmed and kept telling us all how amazing we were and how much he loved us all. There was a never ending stream of district nurses and carers and Peter shared a laugh and a joke with all of them. He was going to take Lynne dancing when he got better, he told Ann he would dream of her, he told each and every one of them every day how wonderful they were and it was a humbling experience to see how people could care so much for an elderly gentleman who wasn't part of their family as he was part of ours. Mum, Graeme, Tracey and I and Peter's amazing niece Theresa, whom I also now consider a member of our family, had the privilege of sitting with Peter, day and night, and spending quality time with him. Time stopped, the world seemed to move more slowly and the only person who mattered was Peter, he had everyone's undivided attention and was loving it. He had us all at his beck and call.
Peter was a kind and caring man, an amazing stepdad
and most of all he cherished our Mum. Mum promised when he came home from hospital she would never let him out of her sight again and she didn't, day or night. We will never forget Peter and have so many things to thank him for.  I have said it so many times and cannot repeat it often enough, you were the best step dad ever...♥️

There are
so many stories about Peter and I'm sure you all have your own story that makes you laugh, if so we would love to read it here, please share it with us...