Uncle Dale You taught me, through your quiet attention, that men can be compassionate, attentive and kind. I, as well as 13 other cousins, always felt welcome in your home, where meal times were a smorgasbord feast laid out lovingly by Aunty Pat, and you’d listen bemusedly, without judgment as us kids would spin our particular brand of childish bullshit. In your home I learnt that a marriage can be a real partnership: respectful and equitable and that children are not less than, as well as that humour need not be at the expense of others. I learnt to play hard: get dirty and climb high, metaphors for life. But mostly I learnt that to be sensitive, to be attuned to others, to feel deeply about all living creatures wasn’t a weakness or something to mask, it was—and is—necessary as a creative, an artist, and an essential asset for human connection. Thank you, rest now, Shona x