Lost Love

An incredibly moving assessment from Miss Routledge on what it means to love, and lose that love but be all the richer for it...

"I fell in love two years ago, and it looked as though the gates would open and that one would, in fact, be blessed with a wonderful partnership of some kind. It was the beginning of something which really opened me up. I mean, it just opened me up, and it was real love because it spread everywhere. It was just extraordinary. I was taken completely by surprise... I was absolutely winded by it, and the moment I realised it had happened, I wept, because I was frightened by my happiness and the potential of that happiness.

"I was alive, I mean really alive, but within five weeks of my having met this person, who was at the beginning of a heart condition and was overworking - he died very suddenly in the night. And that was so very hard. But I was blessed. I still am. I carry the power of that love with me.

"Life is tough. But you know, some people never touch that experience. Some people touch it and are burned up by it, or cannot rise to it. So I consider myself very fortunate."