Community & Connection

Three years ago today my husband went missing. We had gone to the swimming pool together using our bus passes to get into town. He liked to spend ages in the sauna and often got chatting which was what happened on this day. I said I would set off home and cook and would see him later but he didn’t come. I tried to send him a message heard his phone ping and found it on his favourite armchair, but as phones were not allowed in the pool area I wasn’t too surprised he’d left it at home. I met the last bus but he wasn’t on it. I called the police who came to the house but didn’t know where to search. He found his way home the next day cold and confused after being lost and unable to find his way home. He had gone somewhere on a bus but didn’t know where and had wandered the streets after the buses stopped. Despite being lost and alone and desperately trying to find his way home he had still somehow found a shop and brought home chocolate for me. The police took us to the hospital because they said they thought he had hypothermia but I think they also suspected the brain tumour the hospital found. For the next 18 months he tried so hard to stay but died a year gone August. Caring for the dog we shared gave me some purpose but she too has gone now.