- Memories of Felix and things he taught me
Felix was the first baby in my immediate family I had known.
His arrival taught me my first lessons as an adult about caring for another
generation within the family rather than as a distant professional. I was one of the younger members of my
generation and hadn’t had much opportunity to experience this before. I
remember him grasping at my little finger, I remember taking him out for a walk
in his pram in Cambridge, I remember how Granny Tinks was so pleased at having
a great grandchild.
I remember his baptism. This was a special family day, a
real celebration of a new kind to me. I still have the photo of us all gathered
around our precious baby on my mantelpiece.
I remember him as a little boy. I remember he loved Bob the
Builder. I remember being with him in the house in Devon playing a Bob the
Builder CD, and we danced to it. If I ever hear that song (not too often
thankfully) it reminds me of him.
I remember him as an older child. I remember camping in the
back garden of the house and him helping to entertain Frankie and Zoe. I
remember he told me about the CHERUB books which I had never heard of.
I remember him as a teenager. We were proud of him on his
eighteenth birthday and sent him a tie and some cufflinks to celebrate his
official maturity. I still have the thankyou message he sent that said “I hope that you are having a nice time
wherever you are, just like me”, and that made me smile.
I remember him when he came to the Christmas celebrations in
Norfolk. I remember him playing with the snooker and the pingpong balls game,
and amusing the younger ones. I remember we went for a walk, we found a
geocache, and he entertained Frankie for a long time, with a guessing game. Frankie
remembers a long discussion about sequences. When we asked everyone to say
“Happy Christmas” on the video, he chose to say “Happy Hanukkah” instead, with
a nonconformity of spirit which appealed to me.
I remember him as an adult at Ben’s 50th birthday
at the National Gallery. He seemed so animated about his new course and I
remember thinking how he had grown up over the last year. Frankie remembers he
taught her a new joke:
“Why can’t you hear pterodactyls go to the toilet? Because
they have a silent “p”.”
James found this hilarious.
I remember him from the chats he made on our family Whatsapp
group. I remember that he talked to us about the Moomin Little My costume Zoe
was wearing, and that he liked the books.
I loved the way he joined in all the funny silly chatter with us all. -
I
remember his plans for the future; how we planned to visit Harry Potter world
together; and that I was looking forward to going with a film fanatic like
Felix. I was proud to have him as my nephew.