Dearest Peter,

          FIRST BORN AND HONOURABLE SON.

The night you were born, your Dad smoked a cigar with your grandfather Jack. While still a tiny babe, we took you to New Zealand where your Dad was to work for the next 3 years, and where your sister Kylie would be born.

With Kylie's birth you became a big brother, a role you embraced with typical grace and enthusiasm. You were gentle and loving with the new member of the family and as she grew she liked nothing better than to sit quietly in your presence, watching you build elaborate Lego structures. Lego was an abiding passion throughout your childhood. I still remember the suitcase you packed when you left India in 1981. It was completely full, neatly packed with Lego. On top you had laid two pairs of shorts and two T.shirts. That was your luggage.

Later Lego would make way for electronics - computers, cameras and projectors and sound equipment - things you approached with the same creativity and attention to detail you had displayed as a young child building Lego, or drawing stylised pictures with a ruler and pencil, or building towers of playing cards. As a teenager in Oregon you won a state-wide competition with a synchronised sound and light show you built for the kids disco.

Then came the time of upheaval, followed by 20 years when you and I lived in different countries, in different worlds. At regular intervals, you would fly across the world to visit me. One day you called to say you were bringing Jennifer with you. And so it was that I met your chosen mate. In Jennifer you chose a noble woman, a woman whose love and courage and commitment matched your own. Together you passed on Life, blessing us first with Chloe, and then with Dylan. Your Dad died while Dylan was still in the womb. In your agony you displayed the graceful power and strength that has been the hallmark of your manhood ever since.

Though my own experience has taught me that Life means well with us, I do not pretend to understand why it has been that you should have such a long painful illness, and then die. Yet I cannot help but see that in some mysterious way you, and Jennifer with you, have brought untold blessings upon your families and friends. Your illness has been the catalyst for immense healing within the family, healing that resounds through the ancestral line.

Inspired by the tremendous courage and honesty you and Jennifer displayed, I too found the courage to step into the abyss. Respect and kindness and mercy walked with me, and Freedom embraced me, creating ripples in the waters of Life that continue to flow out in ever widening circles.

And so it was that I could visit you and your family in your own home, and when I came you said, 'Thanks for coming Mum. Let's enjoy ourselves'. And we did. Together with Kylie and Gregory we all went to Dish and ate oysters and reminisced of halcyon days at Coral Bay. We walked on the beach, listening to the sound of the waves and the wind in our ears. We swam in the ocean that was your second home, and then sat on the warm sand staring out over the sparkling water. We went to the pub at Brunz and ate chicken and chips while the kids played in the boat. We went to Fish Mongers and ate fish and chips out of a box, and then walked along the beachfront at Byron. We went to Wategoes and swam and walked and waded. We did a thousand things together. You showed me all your favourite haunts and we ate in your favourite eating places. And we did something none of us had done before when HG took us all to lunch at Ray's, and we pretended we were movie stars.

It has been a privilege for me to meet your friends and to experience first hand and be included in the heartfelt support they have offered you and your family, support that continued throughout the entire period of your illness and which literally carried us all through these last weeks when your physical body was becoming weaker and weaker. As your mother I am humbled to be a witness to, and the recipient of, so much loving kindness, so much generosity, so much love flowing towards you and your family. I thank each and every one of your friends. And I thank the Amyteus friends, the Palliative care doctors and nurses and all those who supported us so that you could die at home. I would also like to thank family and friends and all those all over the world who lit candles, prayed, meditated and sent good wishes throughout your illness. Together they have woven a cloth of light and love which has enfolded you and Jennifer and your family and held you thoughout your journey, and beyond. We are all still held. Thank you all.

I thank Jennifer, your noble wife and partner on this journey. Jennifer has been an inspiration to me. She has held the greater picture, caring for you with tenderness and love, always deeply respectful of your wishes. Ever mindful of the needs of Chloe and Dylan, she has kept your little family together and helped the children through each step of the journey. It has been a privilege to have been by her side in caring for you in the last few weeks of your life. I thank you for bringing this beautiful woman into our family.

I am deeply grateful, and give thanks, that I could have you as my son. I love you, and as Chloe said the night you left us, LOVE NEVER DIES.

Your loving Mum